A pregnant woman in San Francisco gave birth inside a Waymo robotaxi Monday night while heading to UCSF Medical Center. This unexpected event marks another chapter in the ongoing story of driverless cars—a scenario that anyone who’s been in a rideshare vehicle for more than six months might have anticipated.
As reported by The SF Standard, Waymo’s remote team noticed “unusual activity” in the car and called 911, although the vehicle managed to reach the hospital before emergency responders arrived.
Some things never change. For years, expectant mothers have been hurrying to hospitals in taxis and Ubers all over the world. There was a mother in India who named her son Uber after giving birth on the way to the hospital, with the driver assisting in the delivery. In 2017, a couple in California welcomed their baby during a ride in an Uber on Shabbat. The father joked, “Everyone is telling us to name the baby Uber,” before adding, “But we can’t do that.” (Though, technically, they could have!)
These stories keep piling up. Now, with advancements from Silicon Valley, the experience has been at least partially automated.
The San Francisco vehicle was quickly taken out of service for cleaning. Additionally, this isn’t the first birth for Waymo; the company revealed that a baby was born in one of their cars in Phoenix beforehand. A Waymo spokesperson humorously remarked, “While this is a very rare occurrence, some of our newest riders just can’t wait to experience their first Waymo ride.”
