Waymo Robotaxi Leaves Passenger Luggage Behind at San Jose Airport

A man from California found himself in an unexpected situation during his first ride in a Waymo robotaxi. The self-driving car, which was supposed to take him from his home in Sunnyvale to San Jose Mineta International Airport for a business trip, ended up leaving him stranded without his suitcase. The incident occurred on April 27, when Di Jin booked the service through the Waymo app.

The ride initially went smoothly as a driverless Jaguar I-Pace took him to the airport terminal. However, when Jin arrived, he tried to open the trunk by pressing the release button, but nothing happened. Moments later, the car drove off with his bag still inside.

"I pressed the trunk open button, trying to get my luggage, but it doesn't do anything, and it drives away immediately," Jin told the local news outlet. He immediately called Waymo customer service, only to be informed that the vehicle could not be turned around because it was already on its way back to the company's depot.

Without his suitcase, Jin had to board his flight to San Diego without his work notes and clothes to change into. Later that day, Waymo emailed him to say the bag had been recovered. However, the challenge was that the depot where the bag was located was in San Francisco, more than an hour away from the airport in light traffic. Initially, the company refused to cover the shipping costs, offering instead two complimentary robotaxi rides so Jin could collect the suitcase himself.

Jin rejected both options, explaining that he was unwilling to spend more than two hours of his time fixing a problem caused by a malfunction that was not his fault. A Waymo representative eventually called him on Friday and agreed to ship the luggage. The company also confirmed to another outlet that it had waived the shipping fee.

Waymo driverless taxi drives in lower Manhattan in New York City, U.S., Nov. 26, 2025. Photo by Reuters

According to Waymo's published policy, passengers can open the trunk by pressing the physical release button on the outside of the vehicle or by tapping "open trunk" in the Waymo app. Additionally, the trunk is designed to open automatically when a passenger exits at the destination. However, none of these mechanisms worked for Jin, and with no human driver present, he had no way to inform the car that he had not yet retrieved his bag.

This incident is not the first of its kind. In April 2025, a San Francisco tennis coach reported that his expensive equipment was carried off in the trunk of a driverless Waymo. Similar circumstances led to the loss of his belongings.

Waymo's terms of service state that the company is not responsible for items left in the vehicle after a trip ends and does not offer reimbursement for lost items. Despite this, the company has continued to expand its services.

San Jose Mineta International Airport became the first commercial airport in California to offer Waymo rides to paying passengers when the service launched in November 2025. Since then, Waymo has expanded its operations to roughly a dozen U.S. cities and has announced plans to enter about 20 more in the coming years.