Waymo Driverless Taxi Narrowly Avoids Disaster At Railroad Crossing

There's a lot of hype behind the ongoing surge of driverless cars popping up around the world. While the exact viability of these vehicles to replace human-driven cars in the future is still being challenged, one thing is certain: the goal of roads filled with driverless vehicles has a long way to go. While these vehicles keep ending up in the headlines, it's not typically for good reasons. For instance, the company was adamant that it could still make streets safer despite recent incidents, and Waymo is once again in the headlines for another problem.

The latest in the ongoing string of incidents surrounding Waymo occurred on March 7, 2026, when the driverless vehicle came to a stop between a set of train tracks and a railroad crossing stop arm. Thankfully, the Waymo was empty at the time, and the passing train was able to continue on without issue. According to KXAN, an NBC affiliate in Texas, Waymo released a statement on the incident, noting that the lights had just started to flash.

However, the vehicle registered that it could not slow down and stop before the arm without risking being rear-ended for braking too quickly. This caused the vehicle to brake to a stop before the crossing, but beyond the stop arm. The company also says that the vehicle came to a stop more than 2.5 meters before the train tracks and that it was determined not to be in any danger from the passing train.

Still, considering Waymo's history thus far, it's not difficult to see why witnesses were concerned enough to record the situation, as this is far from Waymo's first rodeo. In fact, as recently as March 1, a Waymo vehicle blocked an ambulance, and there have been countless videos shared online about Waymo vehicles doing silly things. While many of these incidents don't result in personal injury to anyone, not all of them are quite so lucky, as in early 2026, a Waymo driverless car hit a child, resulting in minor injuries and the NHTSA getting involved in the situation.

Thankfully, this latest incident doesn't appear to have put anyone at risk of injury. And Waymo says that it has halted the use of routes that have crossings that are similar to this one for some additional testing. However, as Waymo continues to expand, it's likely we'll see the driverless vehicles having to navigate even more haphazard crossings such as this — not to mention other possible scenarios.

The good news, at least, is that Waymo says situations like this haven't happened very often, citing over 300 similar railroad crossings like the one from the latest incident having occurred without issue. Hopefully, these additional tests, as well as some stricter restraints put into place, will help minimize future issues like this.