Waymo Reveals Its Driverless Cars Are "Guided" By Remote Workers In Philippines: "Phone-A-Friend"

At a US Senate hearing on the safety of self-driving cars, Waymo's Chief Safety Officer revealed that the company employs remote workers in the Philippines to assist its autonomous vehicles. This disclosure followed a series of federal safety investigations into Waymo's vehicles, including an incident where a robotaxi struck a child in a school zone in January 2025. 

On February 4, Mauricio Pena, Waymo's chief safety officer, testified before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and admitted that the company's robotaxis can switch to remote drivers in unusual situations. These remote drivers are based in the US and abroad, including the Philippines, and provide guidance to help the vehicles navigate complex scenarios. After additional questioning, Pena confirmed that overseas operators are located in the Philippines.

These workers, referred to as "fleet response agents," do not remotely steer, brake, or accelerate the vehicles. Instead, they provide high-level "contextual" guidance when the AI is stuck. The car's onboard software remains in control of the dynamic driving task at all times and can choose whether to follow or reject the human agent's input, Pena explained. 

"They provide guidance/They do not remotely drive the vehicles. Waymo asks for guidance in certain situations and gets an input, but the Waymo vehicle is always in charge of the dynamic driving tasks, so that is just one additional input," he said. 

However, Senator Ed Markey expressed concerns over Waymo's use of overseas remote drivers, citing potential safety and cybersecurity risks and the offshoring of American jobs. He criticised the practice as "completely unacceptable."

"The information the operators receive could be out of date. It could introduce tremendous cybersecurity vulnerabilities. We don't know if these people have US driver's licenses. It's one thing when a taxi is replaced by an Uber or a Lyft. It's another thing when the jobs just go completely overseas," he argued.

Markey also highlighted its impact on US drivers, noting that autonomous vehicles are already affecting taxi and rideshare drivers. 

Defending the practice, Waymo told People this outsourcing is part of an effort to scale operations globally, though they have not disclosed the exact ratio of foreign to domestic workers. The company maintains that these agents are licensed drivers who undergo background checks, drug screenings, and training on local US traffic rules. 

Notably, Watmo had been transparent about its human operators, likening it to having a "phone-a-friend" option, as mentioned in a May 2024 blog post. 

"Much like phone-a-friend, when the Waymo vehicle encounters a particular situation on the road, the autonomous driver can reach out to a human fleet response agent for additional information to contextualize its environment. The Waymo Driver does not rely solely on the inputs it receives from the fleet response agent and it is in control of the vehicle at all times. As the Waymo Driver waits for input from fleet response, and even after receiving it, the Waymo Driver continues using available information to inform its decisions," the blog read. 

The company currently operates in six US markets: Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, and Austin. They are looking to expand to Boston, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Washington, DC, and even London. According to Waymo, its vehicles perform over 50,000 "fully driverless" public rides each week.