Waymo’s self-driving cars have been mapping Chicago city streets and traffic patterns, but they’re not giving rides—yet. While the company gears up to deploy in the Windy City, critics are closely watching how the technology handles real-world conditions. Stream NBC 5 for free, 24/7, wherever you are. Waymo vehicles have made headlines in recent months following several incidents. In December 2025, the vehicles shut down in the middle of traffic in San Francisco. One month prior, a Waymo vehicle drove into an active crime scene in Los Angeles. And in December 2024, a Phoenix man was trapped inside of a Waymo that was apparently driving in circles. After these scenarios, Waymo issued software updates and in some cases, said it used the unusual event to improve road safety. Waymo is operating 3,000 cars in 10 U.S. cities, but Chicago may present a unique challenge, according to Dr. Missy Cummings, the director of George Mason University’s Autonomy and Robotics Center and a nationally recognized expert in self-driving vehicle technology. “These cars struggle around pedestrians, struggle around people on bicycles and scooters, for example, they do not do well around potholes,” said Cummings. There are currently three active Federal Investigations into Waymo over incidents involving failure to stop for school buses and an incident where a child was struck in a school zone. Waymo said it takes these investigations “very seriously" and has taken "significant steps to improve performance." The company has pledged to cooperate fully with investigators. Local Cummings said incidents like those “suggest that the computer vision systems on board the cars are still extremely immature. Immature to the point that they have to call remote operators." Help from Waymo’s remote operators isn’t always immediate. During a power outage in San Francisco last December, dozens of Waymo vehicles were effectively