Fact Check: Viral video of Tamil-speaking woman in driverless taxi is from US, not Chennai

Hyderabad: A video of an old woman speaking Tamil and travelling in a driverless car is going viral on social media with the claim that the first driverless car service in the world started in Chennai.

A Facebook user shared the video with the caption, “Driverless taxi service started first time in the world in Chennai started yesterday. Enjoy the ride. (sic)”

Several Facebook users have shared the video claiming the same.

The video is viral on YouTube with the same claim. Click here and here to view the videos.

Fact Check

NewsMeter found that the video is from the US.

We noticed the following things in the video. In India, the steering wheel is on the right side; however, in the viral video, the car has the steering wheel on the left side. The woman enters the car from the right side of the road while traffic is on the left in India. We also found the company name ‘Waymo’ written on the car.

Next, we searched for Waymo and found it was formerly the Google self-driving car project. It is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in California. Taking these cues, we ran a relevant keyword search and found the video on YouTube, published on September 8. The title stated that the video shows a driverless taxi in the US.

Further, we searched about the Waymo driverless taxi service in India but did not find reports by credible media. However, we came across a 2017 report from Mashable, which said self-driving car company Waymo had opened up a pilot program in Phoenix, Arizona, letting people get free rides in its driverless minivans. Another 2017 report from Tech Crunch said Waymo is expanding its driverless program in Phoenix, a city in the US state of Arizona.

Hence, we conclude that the video is not from India. The claim that a driverless taxi service is starting in Chennai is false.