EVwire brief: A Tesla Cybercab ended up sandwiched between two Waymo robotaxis in Austin, Texas, after one of the Waymos reportedly turned into the wrong lane and stopped nose to nose with it.
Chase Dowling, who was riding in the Cybercab at the time, shared a photo of the face-off on X on Tuesday, calling it a "Robotaxi standoff." The shot, taken from inside the Cybercab, shows a Waymo Jaguar I-PACE stopped head-on in front of the vehicle, with the Cybercab's screen still reading "Arriving soon."
Here's Dowling's post on X:
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When another X user asked whether the Waymo was going the wrong way, Dowling explained how the standoff started. He noted that the Waymo “turned right at the light directly into the wrong lane as its compatriot came up behind me.”
He later shared a street-level photo of the scene, with the Cybercab boxed in between the wrong-lane Waymo in front and a second Waymo waiting right behind it.
Not quite the robotaxi convoy that one can expect. Image: Chase Dowling
Waymo's wrong-lane turn is not the first time one of its robotaxis has ended up on the wrong side of the road. In December 2025, a Waymo was filmed driving against traffic on an Interstate 35 frontage road in downtown Austin. In June 2024, Phoenix police pulled over a Waymo that had driven into oncoming lanes after encountering construction signage.
Funny as the Austin standoff is, robotaxis are still in their early days, so some awkward moments like this are to be expected. Waymo's own data shows its robotaxis are involved in 95% fewer serious-injury crashes than human drivers over 271 million miles, and that's the kind of progress that makes robotaxis worth supporting.
Still, the jokes and memes that these incidents inspire will always be entertaining:
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Context:
The standoff comes as Tesla's Cybercab becomes a far more common sight on Austin's roads. Vehicles registered to Tesla's Robotaxi service in Texas topped 1,000 units in late October. Tesla is widening its footprint as well, launching Robotaxi in Fort Worth this week as its seventh US city, and it said during its Q3 2026 earnings call that Cybercab rides would launch in Dallas this month.
Waymo, for its part, has been expanding on just about every front. The company is adding nearly 250 square miles (about 650 km²) of service area across Los Angeles, Nashville, Orlando, San Diego and the San Francisco Bay Area, with its LA zone now stretching into the South Bay. In mid-October, Waymo also opened rides to everyone in San Antonio, San Diego and Tampa, and it is lining up international launches in Toronto and Madrid.
Source: Chase Dowling on X
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