"Videos circulating on social media showed Waymo robotaxis clogging up intersections, addled by the sudden absence of guidance from traffic lights. In one video posted to TikTok, a Waymo robotaxi sporting its telltale rooftop cluster of sensors blocks a busy intersection as human drivers stream around it on both sides. "This car did not move for 10+ min - it only left when the passengers ditched the car," the TikTok user who caught the footage wrote in the caption."
"In light of the chaos, Waymo temporarily paused its service to San Francisco on Saturday evening. "While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events," a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement provided to Fast Company, adding that Waymo would prioritize "rapidly integrating" lessons learned from the weekend outage."
A major power outage in San Francisco caused many Waymo robotaxis to lose traffic light guidance and stall, clogging intersections and neighborhood roads. Videos show a robotaxi blocking a busy intersection until passengers abandoned it, and several cars flashing hazards in confusion. The outage also knocked chunks of public transit offline and disrupted businesses during a busy shopping weekend. Waymo temporarily suspended its San Francisco service and said it will integrate lessons to improve responses to infrastructure failures. Autonomous vehicles depend on sensor arrays rather than human judgment, making them prone to unpredictable behavior during unusual events, and prior safety probes have raised concerns.
Read at Fast Company
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