Waymo vehicle drives around barricades and into Denver farmers market

A driverless Waymo decided to do a little Sunday morning shopping at the South Pearl Street Farmers Market this weekend, except nobody invited it.

Around 8:40 a.m. on Sunday, a Waymo robotaxi drove around barricades at Washington Street and Florida Avenue and cruised right into the pedestrian-only market while vendors were still setting up. Video posted by Hearth Denver, a bakery and coffee shop that participates in the market, shows the Waymo rolling between vendor tents with its turn signal on like it was politely merging into a lane of heirloom tomatoes. “Waymo babe this is a farmers market,” the bakery wrote on Instagram. At one point, the car turned toward people standing near vendor tents before stopping. “Oh my god,” someone can be heard saying in the video. “Waymo’s like ‘get me out of here.'”

Market assistant manager Shari Wilkins told 9NEWS she had no idea how to stop it. “I was actually at the end of the road there, chatting to some vendors, and there was kind of like commotion,” Wilkins said. “People were like, ‘Oh my god. There’s a Waymo driving down.'” Workers tried to clear people out of the way as the car would stop, then go again. “Yeah, it was a mess,” Wilkins said. Theodore Subbotin, farmers market manager for Hearth Denver, said people pulled out their phones and laughed while trying to figure out what to do. Market coordinator Marilyn Kahlich said the Waymo was “avoiding all obstacles” and that no one was hurt, there was no damage and no one felt in danger, but organizers also didn’t know how to redirect the car, so they just followed it through the market shouting warnings. A Waymo spokesperson said the car was already navigating to a destination on South Pearl Street when the market setup began and that it “quickly identified the situation and maneuvered out of the market area.”

The incident is technically the second notable Waymo moment in Denver since the company launched public rides on Sept. 1. On Aug. 27, just days before that launch, a chain-reaction crash near Denver Health on West 8th Avenue and Delaware Street sent two vehicles into a stopped, empty Waymo that drivers say was sitting in a travel lane. Waymo said it had stopped for a pedestrian. The drivers said they didn’t see anyone crossing. One of them told CBS Colorado, “Like, how do I explain this to my insurance?” Waymo has been testing its technology in Denver since September 2025 and currently covers about 60 square miles, including LoDo, RiNo, Capitol Hill, Cherry Creek and the area around all three major stadiums. Colorado has had almost no regulatory oversight of autonomous vehicles since a 2017 state law paved the way for them to operate.