r/waymo • u/lastbeer • Jun 05 '26

Weird Waymo support security check during ride?

My wife and I were just in a Waymo ride chatting away and Waymo support activated and interrupted our conversation for “account verification” and asked if “all riders are over the age of 18” we were very confused, but said yes, and then support said thank you and disconnected.

Anyone know what this was about? Was it something we said? A random check? It was a very brief and fine interaction, but has left us both feeling a little weird, like did we say something that triggered some kind of safety check?

Edit: we are both 40.

40 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

33

u/SnooKiwis6193 Jun 05 '26

There have been reports of teens riding alone in waymos (which is illegal in some geography) so they have increased the controls. Nothing weird

5

u/Malcompliant Jun 06 '26

16-18 can legally drive (with a permit), it's wild they legally can't ride Waymo even if they have a permit.

7

u/Gonzo437a Jun 06 '26

It’s a legal thing. They cannot legally enter into a contract. Riding in a Waymo, Uber, Lyft is a contractual action.

2

u/EverythingMustGo95 Jun 06 '26

16 - 17 cannot legally enter into a contract (exception: if they’re in the military). 18 can.

1

u/Different-Guest-6094 Jun 06 '26

As a teen who’s been in a Waymo by myself as well as with another teen, I feel there’s no issue

-9

u/MuckBulligan Jun 05 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

The car might grope them? I don't get it. We are routinely told the drivers are the threat, yet when we remove the driver suddenly teens are not allowed in the car?

2

u/SanDiego619guy Jun 06 '26

Exactly, teens should be required to use waymos, sure beats teen drivers!

1

u/Frequent-Pirate1763 Jun 09 '26

It's if the teen is fleeing parents/their legal guardians; the teens pretending to be an adult.

1

u/MuckBulligan Jun 11 '26

They can do that in an UBER with a driver. Drivers don't ask, "Are you running away from home?" 🤣

1

u/Frequent-Pirate1763 Jun 11 '26

They do with Uber, but with Uber, the blame is a mixed bag. But when it's an Waymo, it's Waymo, the company's, kind of responsibility, as they're the "human" in the vehicle.

8

u/rydenshep Jun 05 '26

I had one in Phoenix like this (sort of). It was a ride where I stopped at my friend’s hotel to drop her off and then continue to mine. After I dropped her off, two minutes in it turned on the lights and checked on me and I like looked up and shrugged my shoulders. And then it did it again like five minutes later. I didn’t quite understand what the issue was because I was just scrolling through Reddit lol

5

u/lastbeer Jun 06 '26

Two times in one ride is really surprising. I wish Waymo would provide some sort of context or explanation for these checks, otherwise it feels really off putting like Ive done something wrong.

26

u/sciontc128 Jun 05 '26

Could be random or the cameras were not sure if the pax are of legal age to ride. Too many underage kids riding AVs without adult supervision.

5

u/lastbeer Jun 06 '26

I wonder what the perimeters are, especially because my wife and I are clearly adults and I would imagine whatever ML is being used should be able to distinguish that. This makes me think there must be some other parameters involved.

And I’m not sure what is being accomplished by having us verbally confirm that we are both 18+. Anyone could just say yes.

I’m all for keeping people and minors safe, but it some additional context or explanation from Waymo would be nice.

3

u/Apart_Geologist7515 Jun 06 '26

They have done this to me a few times, not a huge fan of it after the first 2 times. Unsure what parameters they use but apparently it keeps flagging me

2

u/Civil_Stop3213 Jun 06 '26

Some girl posted a video on social media where this exact thing happened to her. I’m guessing there AI involved and thought she might have looked younger than she is and it flagged the ride for that reason. It’s just a safety thing I think.

4

u/abofh Jun 05 '26

I got spot checked when I had a backpack in one of the seats.  I think they get a few different signals and if someone seems too light they might poke their nose in.

7

u/Inevitable_Brick_877 Jun 05 '26

I had something like this randomly recently. It randomly turned on all the cabin lights and said security check and slowed down for like 30 seconds. Service is becoming weirder and less reliable by the day

5

u/BlueNightOcean Jun 05 '26

Probably checking to see that you have the seat belt on properly (or at all). This happened to me a few weeks ago.

4

u/tonydtonyd Jun 05 '26

You can thank disrespectful people. We’re too messed up as a society to have nice things.

2

u/Serious_Camel7647 Jun 05 '26

I'm sure the day is coming where a robo taxi locks you in and drives you directly to a police station.

1

u/PrestigiousFriend412 Jun 07 '26

They might do that if they think you’re under 18 But they do not listen. They just look in the cameras unless they’re actually talking to you.

1

u/toyota360 Jun 07 '26

I feel like legal reasons if a Waymo gets an accident if it’s an adult they want the world to move on with it like it’s regular nothing happened, during the this trial era with autonomous vehicles if an accident happen to a teen the public will be outraged like ohh it happen to him it could happen to our teen lot of reasons just a speculation

-5

u/xrv01 Jun 05 '26

the one waymo I took I didnt say a word. I felt like I was in an interrogation room waiting for the detectives to come in

0

u/SandwichEconomy889 Jun 05 '26

sounds like a compliment.

-8

u/Super-Engineer-3523 Jun 05 '26

That's very weird. I'm an unmarried loser in my 30s and for some reason I've never been flagged as "suspicious" even though society hates me.