Last August, a fire ripped through 10 acres of grass on either side of California’s I-280 near Redwood City. Traffic backed up as firefighters extinguished the blaze, and California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers directed drivers to turn around and travel the wrong way to exit the freeway.

Some of those drivers encountered a new obstacle: a Waymo robotaxi.

Footage of the incident shows the Waymo AV tried to pass stopped traffic by traveling on the shoulder, only to wind up reversing away from the oncoming wrong-way cars, before stopping altogether.

The robotaxi wouldn’t budge, despite efforts from the company’s remote assistance team. So, Waymo turned to a resource that has become a reliable problem solver and called 911.

“Highway patrol turned everyone around, but unfortunately our car is not able to turn around,” one of Waymo’s remote assistance workers told an area 911 dispatcher, according to a recording obtained by TechCrunch in a public records request. The employee wanted officers on the scene to drive the robotaxi away and to arrange transportation for the passenger inside.

Roughly 30 minutes after Waymo called 911, a CHP officer got behind the wheel and drove the robotaxi to a park-and-ride lot near the highway, a CHP incident report obtained by TechCrunch shows. From there, it was driven away by one of Waymo’s “roadside assistance” workers, the company told TechCrunch.

The Redwood City incident could be viewed as an edge case, an inevitable, yet mildly embarrassing blip in Waymo’s rapidly expanding robotaxi service network.

Techcrunch event

Disrupt 2026: The tech ecosystem, all in one room

Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation. Register now to save up to $400.

Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit

1,000+ founders and investors come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediately

Offer ends March 13.

San Francisco, CA

October 13-15, 2026

But this was not an isolated incident. Waymo has relied on taxpayer-funded first responders to navigate its vehicles when they encounter issues, despite the existence of the company’s own roadside assistance team. In at least six instances identified by TechCrunch, first responders have had to take control of Waymo vehicles and move them out of traffic during emergency situations, including one in which an officer was in the middle of responding to a mass shooting.

Waymo has recently come under criticism by lawmakers for its use of remote assistance employees, including a few dozen who work from the Philippines, to help its robotaxis decide the best path through complex situations. Its roadside assistance team has received far less attention.

The company’s representatives never mentioned the roadside assistance workers at a testy March 2 hearing in San Francisco about the behavior of Waymo’s robotaxis that became stalled during a major power outage in December. At the meeting, city officials aired concerns that the stuck autonomous vehicles impeded or pulled first responders away from their primary jobs.

“What has started to happen is that our public safety officers and responders are having to be the ones to physically move [Waymos],” Mary Ellen Carroll, the executive director of San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, said at the hearing. “In a sense, they’re becoming a default roadside assistance for these vehicles, which we do not think is tenable.”

Waymo told TechCrunch that its roadside assistance workers cleared dozens of stuck robotaxis during the blackout, with a handful still needing to be moved by first responders.

“Waymo Roadside Assistance is a dedicated team of specialists who lend extra on-the-ground support to our fleet,” the company said in an email to TechCrunch. “Waymo’s standards for roadside response and service quality prioritize minimizing potential community impacts.”

The company declined to answer TechCrunch’s questions about how many roadside assistance workers it uses, or which third-party companies might employ them. Waymo also didn’t say how it plans to scale the team as it races to launch in about 20 more cities this year, expanding beyond its current markets of Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, Phoenix, San Antonio, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Waymo’s helpers

Aerial view of Waymo’s self-driving car fleet storage facility in San Francisco.Image Credits:Getty Images

Waymo’s robotaxis provide more than 400,000 paid rides per week, a testament to the company’s many years

Who’s driving Waymo’s self-driving cars? Sometimes, the police.