Riding in a Waymo might seem like fun—until you realize someone’s watching your every move.
Shalini (@408sjbaddie) learned that the hard way. While riding as a front-seat passenger in a Waymo, she couldn’t resist pressing the horn—and instantly got flagged. A Waymo representative chimed in remotely, scolding her mid-ride.
A friend captured the moment on video, which has racked up over 644,000 views on TikTok as of Thursday.
What’s Waymo?
Waymo builds self-driving technology—including the fully autonomous cars behind its ride-hailing service, Waymo One. Its mission, according to the company, is to deliver safe, accessible, and sustainable transportation for all.
Waymo One lets riders summon a driverless car to take them wherever they need to go, like Uber or Lyft, minus the human behind the wheel. The service runs on Waymo’s own custom-built hardware and software, and while it’s currently limited to a few cities, expansion is on the horizon. Las Vegas and San Diego are first up this year, with Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C. expected to follow in 2026.
Safety is the brand’s core selling point, which is why the front-seat controls are off-limits. Yes, the horn works—but it’s meant to be used by the car, not the passengers.
In low-speed scenarios where a honk might prevent a crash, the vehicle knows when to blast it. But for liability reasons (and common sense), Waymo doesn’t want passengers playing around with those features.
What happened during the passenger’s ride?
In her video, Shalini said she thought honking the horn would be funny—a harmless joke.
“POV you thought it would be funny to honk the horn in the waymo but they call you to tell you it’s a violation,” she wrote in the text overlay.
Turns out, it wasn’t so harmless.
“Any reason why you used the horn?” a Waymo rep asked, to which Shalini apologized repeatedly.
When asked why she did it, her answer was simple. She “just wanted to press it.”
The rep didn’t share her sense of humor.
“Just wanted to let you know that touching the controls, especially on the driver’s side, is actually a violation,” he said, warning her not to do it again.
If it happens again, he added, it could impact her ability to use Waymo in the future.
A Waymo rep declined to comment on Shalini’s specific incident, but shared Waymo’s rider rules, which tell passengers not to touch driving controls or sensors.
They read: “We monitor important controls, so please don’t touch: any equipment related to the movement of the car (e.g., steering wheel, accelerator, or brake pedal) or controls (e.g., gear shifter, windshield wiper, or center console buttons) while inside the vehicle, [or] sensors, cameras, or other hardware on the outside of the car. Feel free to use the window buttons and passenger screens inside the car to make your ride comfortable.”
@408sjbaddie ♬ original sound – shalini
Waymo strictly enforces safety
In the comments, viewers reassured Shalini that while the moment was embarrassing, she’s far from the only one Waymo has called out for breaking the rules.
“Waymo pulled over and called me bc he said he saw on the cameras that I had a kid with me and needs to ask the kid his age and weight,” one person said. “Waymo don’t play abt safety.”
“I had the same guy come on and tell me I would be banned if it happened again,” another shared. “My intrusive thoughts got the best of me!”
“They’re quick on the scoldin’,” a third viewer remarked.
“Omg stop it was raining and my dad tried to turn the windshield wipers on and the same thing happened,” a fourth TikTok user wrote.
Others said they were impressed that the Waymo rep kept a straight face—especially after hearing Shalini’s reason for honking.
“He sounds so disappointed in you all,” one woman said of the Waymo worker.
“How did he not laugh lmao,” another questioned.
“He was so annoyed,” a third TikToker added.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Shalini via TikTok comment.
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