Autonomous vehicles have long promised to be better drivers than humans. They don't get distracted, don't speed out of frustration, and don't miss exits because they were singing along to the radio. What they apparently can do, however, is barrel through construction zones at highway speeds while a passenger shouts at the dashboard and a police cruiser gives chase. That is, more or less, exactly what happened to San Francisco resident Elliot Slade last month, and his experience is now part of a federal recall involving nearly 4,000 Waymo robotaxis. Slade was traveling along Highway 101 when his Waymo began behaving erratically as it approached an active construction zone. The vehicle attempted to merge around lane closures before ultimately driving directly through the cones and into the restricted work area. A California Highway Patrol unit spotted the situation31 and began following the vehicle. Slade, understandably alarmed, was reduced to yelling "Stop, Waymo" at a car that had no particular interest in his opinion. The robotaxi eventually exited the freeway on its own and turned into a residential neighborhood, apparently deciding the adventure had gone on long enough. The incident wasn't a one-off. Six construction zone violations occurred in the Phoenix area, once on April 11 and five more times on April 19, with Waymo robotaxis driving past ramp closure signs and into active work zones. One month later, seven additional vehicles entered freeway lanes with active construction in the San Francisco Bay Area, weaving between lane-closure cones. Waymo pulled all its vehicles from freeway operation the following day and has kept them off highways since. Waymo filed a voluntary software recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and proactively notified state and federal regulators. The company says a fix is currently in development. In the meantime, surface street operations