RAINY nighttime rider-only Waymo w/ pull-over & trip interruption

Yesterday I posted the first (?) video of Waymo rider-only in the rain- in hindsight it was a very telling sprinkle! Great to see Waymo's confidence moving forward in inclement weather: Here is some real rain very late on 2/23/23! As far as I could tell, the interruption was not because of the rain.

I tried out the pull-over feature to move from the back to the front. It was nice to have available, but I would not use it regularly (there was a support check-in call after).

Later, the Waymo Driver safely pulled over and I got a screen message about the vehicle being reserved for someone else- seemed the vehicle 'thought' I had been let out at my stop which we didn't get to yet! Support's solution was for me to change my stop pickup to where we were and for another vehicle to come for me to 'resume' my ride. Normally I would have exited and ended the ride, but since it was so late and raining heavily, I decided to wait it out. That is the main reason I was online with support for about 40 minutes. The agent was coming in and out, assuring me she was there and I could stay in the vehicle.

I don't know what caused the interruption, but it seemed like a rare and negligible glitch. I am confident the vehicle I left continued on, and I got home in the other one. Waymo support is thorough and I have seen reliably quick action on my feedback.

Correction: My second rider-only with rain.

UPDATE - Waymo reached out to me and I shared a call with a few user experience team members. Waymo support and other employees have always been really great. I have confidence that Waymo is addressing the issue that caused this trip interruption. Furthermore, they care about rider experience and continuing to improve. Thank you!

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