Staff at a Denver farmers market ushered a driverless Waymo out, shouting warnings and hoping it wouldn’t hit anyone

A driverless Waymo rolled through barricades and into an active farmers market in Denver on Sunday morning, forcing staff to usher the empty vehicle out as vendors set up along South Pearl Street. As reported by BroBible, nobody was hit and no property damage occurred.

The autonomous vehicle reportedly ignored the barricades and a stop sign before moving into the space marked off-limits to traffic. Theodore Subbotin, the market manager for Hearth Denver, said staff had to physically guide the car out while shouting warnings to nearby pedestrians because there was no driver to flag down.

The Denver Police Department has indicated it lacks the legal authority to issue a citation when no driver is present, as detailed by Denverite. The Colorado State Patrol reached a similar conclusion, confirming that no trooper has ever pulled over a Waymo in the state.

There was nobody in the car for police to ticket

Subbotin told local media, “There is no driver or anyone in the car.” He added that staff could not get the car out the way they would with a normal driver.

Assistant market manager Shari Wilkins was chatting with vendors nearby when people began shouting, “Oh my god, there’s a Waymo driving down.” The vehicle had passed through barricades at the intersection of Washington Street and Florida Avenue before entering the market zone.

Market coordinator Marilyn Kahlich said the vehicle was moving slowly and traveling in the correct flow of the vendor setup, which helped it avoid obstacles. A Waymo representative said the vehicle was already on its way to a destination on South Pearl Street when it entered the market area and reportedly attempted to leave once it recognized it was in the setup.

Autonomous vehicles are required by law to follow the same traffic rules as human drivers. Colorado allows these systems to operate as long as they can conform to all state and federal laws, and current rules ban cities from setting their own specific policies.

Waymo vehicles are already on the road in cities including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Austin. Denverite previously reported that Waymo cars were mapping Denver with a human driver behind the wheel ahead of a full autonomous rollout. In California, a Waymo stalled during a parade last December, causing a 45-minute traffic jam.

The company maintains that its vehicles are safer than human drivers. In the event of a collision, Waymo suggests calling 911 if there are injuries, or contacting its support team through a QR code on the vehicle or its support line.