SF Grills Waymo Over Stalled Robotaxis
San Francisco officials are demanding answers from Waymo after its robotaxis stalled during a power outage in December. A city hearing is focused on the risk of autonomous vehicles malfunctioning and obstructing emergency services during a crisis.
The December 20th power outage in San Francisco, caused by a fire at a PG&E substation, led to nearly 1,600 "stoppage events" for Waymo's robotaxi fleet. This overwhelmed Waymo's 70 remote operators, who were inundated with "confirmation check" requests from vehicles encountering non-functional traffic signals. At a City Hall hearing, Waymo's Public Policy Manager, Michael Magee, and Director of Product Management, Chinmay Jain, apologized to Board of Supervisors members, including Bilal Mahmood and Myrna Melgar, for the fleet's performance. The company acknowledged it did not meet its own standards during the outage. Waymo's system is designed to treat dark intersections as four-way stops, but the scale of the outage created a backlog of requests for human confirmation, leading to delays and congestion. This incident has prompted Waymo to roll out fleet-wide software updates to provide vehicles with more context during power failures, allowing them to navigate more decisively. The disruption wasn't just a matter of traffic jams; it also highlighted serious public safety concerns. A 911 operator was reportedly on hold with Waymo for nearly an hour, and a firefighter had to manually move a stalled vehicle from a restricted area. Supervisor Alan Wong stated, "Our first responders should not be Triple A roadside assistance." This event has intensified the ongoing debate about the readiness of autonomous vehicles for widespread urban deployment. San Francisco officials have long expressed concerns over robotaxis obstructing emergency services, with the fire chief citing dozens of instances of interference even before this mass stalling event. The hearing also brought to light that calls from Mayor Daniel Lurie to a Waymo executive received a faster response than official city channels during the crisis. This has led to questions about Waymo's emergency communication protocols and their readiness to comply with a new law requiring a 30-second response time to 911 operators. Waymo has been expanding its service area in the Bay Area and other cities like Los Angeles and Austin, where similar, though smaller-scale, incidents of obstructing emergency vehicles have also been reported. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating 22 incidents involving Waymo vehicles either crashing or violating traffic laws.
