The robots are coming … for our dad jokes.
Waymo vehicles may not be named after cute critters or snacks like its embattled competitor, Cruise. However, the robotaxi company run by our Alphabet overlords still likes to have a little fun.
Despite Waymo’s more serious take on naming its cabs, an alert from the disembodied robot voice that functions as a guide shocked riders with an announcement on Monday morning that it had to stop for gas.
After a pause, a comedic rimshot sounds.
“Just kidding,” said the female voice from within the Jaguar’s steely innards. “I’m all electric.”
Waymo uses Jaguar I-PACE SUVs for its fleet of robotaxis, ordering 20,000 of the cars in 2018 to soup up with self-driving technology. As a note, the cars have a range of about 246 miles.
San Francisco’s tech community is already enthralled by the robo-joke.
“This got me good,” wrote product manager Corey O’Neal on X. “Considering it has happened to me in a taxi and an Uber multiple times.”
Waymo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the joke.
Google was notorious for its annual April Fools’ jokes, which included inserting Where’s Waldo on Google Maps, brain-wave-based search announcements or a feature that inserted a Minion mic drop GIF into emails and led to some awkward correspondence.
Since the pandemic, the tech giant has largely canceled its April 1 pranks, although some individual divisions of the company still conduct their own.
Let’s just hope this most recent example wasn’t a Waymo going rogue.