Waymo drives through Denver farmers market during setup

DENVER ( KDVR ) — New video shows a Waymo robotaxi driving down a closed road and through a Denver farmers market.

At about 8:15 a.m. Sunday, 160 vendors were setting up at the South Pearl Street Farmers Market when the self-driving vehicle came through.

“It entered through our food truck area,” said Nicole Jarman, the production director of the farmers market.

Jarman said there was a “Road Closed” sign on one side of the street, but the other side of the street was still open to vendor traffic during setup, and the Waymo followed a vendor vehicle past the sign and then turned onto the 1400 block of South Pearl Street.

“It’s still load-in, our barricades are moved to the side, so there’s vehicular access, and it followed that traffic, went slow, and then made its way on out at Arkansas and kept going,” she said.

“It was not anything that made us nervous,” Jarman said.

No one was hurt, but the incident does bring up safety concerns surrounding Waymo.

The company said the autonomous vehicle was navigating to an address on Pearl Street, quickly identified the situation and maneuvered out of the market area.

A spokesperson offered a statement, saying, “The trust and safety of the community is our top priority. We are dedicated to learning from this situation as we continue improving road safety in the cities we serve.”

Waymo began letting the public book rides in Denver earlier this month.

The company said its vehicles are designed to adapt to dynamic conditions, and the vehicles drive millions of autonomous miles a week, achieving 94% fewer serious injury accidents than human drivers.