Two driverless Waymo vehicles blocked each other at Fifth Street and Alton Road in Miami Beach, unable to complete a turn while traffic stacked up behind them.

A 21-second video shared by ABC News on X on Saturday, Aug. 8, shows the robotaxis sitting motionless at the intersection, each apparently waiting for the other to move. A bystander filming the scene narrates the gridlock as cars pile up.

"So we have two driverless vehicles trying to make a turn, and I guess they can't figure it out," the person recording says.

After roughly a minute, one vehicle breaks the impasse and makes a right turn. Bystanders can be heard cheering.

The exact date of the standoff is unclear. Miami New Times reported the incident Monday, Aug. 10, noting it could not confirm when the encounter occurred.

Third documented disruption

The Fifth Street standoff is at least the third time a Waymo vehicle has snarled traffic in the Miami Beach area since the company began testing in South Florida in early 2025.

In early January 2026, weeks before Waymo's official launch, a driverless car got stuck on the MacArthur Causeway and held up at least a dozen vehicles. That incident prompted Miami-Dade Commissioner Roberto J. Gonzalez to post on X: "Miami-Dade welcomes innovation, but never at the expense of public safety. If @Waymo intends to operate in Miami-Dade, critical issues such as vehicles freezing in the middle of traffic must be fully resolved before any deployment."

Less than two months after the January launch, a rider reported being trapped on a MacArthur Causeway on-ramp for 45 minutes after the car hit the edge of its service area and stopped diagonally across the lane. Neither the Florida Highway Patrol nor a Waymo technician would move it. A tow truck eventually hauled the vehicle away.

Waymo's Miami presence

Waymo officially opened its South Florida robotaxi service to paying riders on Jan. 22, 2026, covering a 60-square-mile area that includes the Design District, Wynwood, Brickell and Coral Gables. At launch, the service area explicitly excluded Miami Beach, according to Business Insider and Electrek. The presence of Waymo vehicles at Fifth Street and Alton Road suggests the company has since expanded its geofence, though no updated service map has been published.

Waymo's director of commercialization programs, Franklin Trujillo, told CBS News Miami in January 2026 that the company takes unexpected vehicle stops seriously. "The best part about it is that software is constantly evolving," Trujillo said at the time. "We can deploy improvements to the fleet, and this continuous learning is crucial."

A Waymo spokesperson did not respond to Miami New Times' request for comment on the Fifth Street standoff. The Miami Beach Police Department has not publicly commented on Waymo operations in the city.

Residents who witness a stalled autonomous vehicle blocking traffic can report it to Miami Beach Police's non-emergency line.