When Waymos Are Stumped, They Get Intervention From Workers in the Philippines
February 6th, 2026Via: Futurism:
Waymo has established itself as the autonomous ride-hailing service to beat, operating a fleet of several thousand self-driving taxis across the United States, with active services in ten major metropolitan areas.
That “self-driving” may be due for some extra scrutiny, though. During a Congressional hearing on Wednesday, Waymo’s chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña, was grilled over the company’s use of Chinese-made vehicles and reliance on overseas workers, as Business Insider reports.
The stakes and public safety implications are considerable. The news comes roughly a week after a Waymo robotaxi struck and injured a child near a Santa Monica, California, elementary school, triggering a federal probe.
After being pressed for a breakdown on where these overseas operators operate, Peña said he didn’t have those stats, explaining that some operators live in the US, but others live much further away, including in the Philippines.
