‘Unusual activity detected’: US woman gives birth in Waymo self-driving taxi

Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons involving the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver.

But this week, the self-driving taxis are the bearer of happier news after a San Francisco woman gave birth in a Waymo.

The mother was on her way to the University of California, San Francisco medical centre on Monday when she delivered inside the robotaxi, said a Waymo spokesperson in a statement on Wednesday.

The company said its rider support team detected “unusual activity” inside the vehicle and called to check on the rider as well as alert emergency services.

Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, declined to elaborate on how the vehicle knew something was amiss.

The taxi and its passengers arrived safely at the hospital ahead of emergency services. Jess Berthold, a UCSF spokeswoman, confirmed the mother and child were brought to the hospital. She said the mother was not available for interviews.