SF Pressures Waymo Over Stalled Robotaxis
San Francisco officials are pressing Waymo for answers after its robotaxis stalled during a power outage in December. Leaders are raising concerns about the company's emergency preparedness and demanding measures to prevent future disruptions to the city.
The December 20th power outage, caused by a fire at a PG&E substation, knocked out power to about a third of San Francisco and created a real-world stress test for Waymo's autonomous fleet. The robotaxis are programmed to treat non-functioning traffic lights as four-way stops, a protocol that was overwhelmed by the scale of the city-wide blackout. Waymo's system, designed for smaller-scale disruptions, saw a massive spike in requests for remote confirmation from the vehicles, creating a system backlog. This led to response delays and caused cars to freeze in intersections, contributing to city-wide gridlock. In a subsequent hearing, Waymo executives revealed the outage led to nearly 1,600 "stoppage events." The situation prompted an urgent response from city officials, with Mayor Daniel Lurie personally calling Waymo's co-CEO to demand the company get its vehicles off the streets immediately. One of the mayor's texts relayed that a Waymo vehicle was blocking a fire truck from accessing an active fire. Some supervisors criticized the response, stating first responders shouldn't have to act as roadside assistance for the company. In response to the criticism, Waymo acknowledged it did not meet its own standards and has begun rolling out fleet-wide software updates. These updates aim to give vehicles more context about regional power outages, allowing them to navigate more "decisively" without needing to contact a human operator. The company has also pledged to improve its emergency response protocols and expand engagement with first responders.
