Update: On Sunday afternoon, Waymo said its fleet was back on the roads.
Waymo said Saturday that it was stopping service across San Francisco after numerous online videos showed its autonomous vehicles snarling traffic during the citywide blackout.
“We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,” wrote Suzanne Philion, a company spokesperson, a little after 7 p.m. “We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.”
About a third of San Francisco lost electricity throughout the day Saturday after rolling Pacific Gas & Electric Co. blackouts hit some 125,000 homes and businesses. PG&E said at 8:30 p.m. that power should start to be restored “later this evening.”
Traffic lights across the city were down, seemingly confusing the driverless cars โ and halting them in their tracks. Riders and pedestrians posted videos of Waymos stuck at intersections, long lines of drivers behind them.
Many of the videos and images showed Waymos lined up one behind the other, with human drivers passing them by.
Groups of two, three, as many as five Waymos were stalled at different corners across the city, blinking red lights in the rain.
It’s been madness with and without Waymos all over the city today. People seem to think it’s Purge Law for driving. And no one I’ve talked to has seen a single cop directing traffic, even at major intersections like 16th and Guerrero or Larkin and O’Farrell. Are they ALL at the Palace Hotel?
Wow. Hopefully emergency vehicles werenโt delayed and this event was just inconvenient. Iโd imagine that if this outage had happened after a Loma Prieta type earthquake, this would have been much more consequential. Hopefully this is a wake up call for the City to have some kind of contingency in place for these vehicles in the event of a major earthquake.
Every one knows a computer will make fewer mistakes than a human in controlled scenarios. But in an emergency a robot car canโt think. Thousands of these things on the road could result in mass casualty and injury in a serious emergency. The idea that they are safe is a MIRAGE. And if they are not safe, all they are doing is making profits for private companies. EMPTY f-ing cars driving down the streetโฆ. when are the โurbanistsโ gonna chime in about how dumb that is?!?!
Major eff-up Waymo. Major major eff-up. And weโve been here defending you guys from Wacky Jackie and her inside supporters.
Get your backup system situated ASAP.
Divis @ McAllister also had a page lane blocked by a waymo.
Nope
golf clap, google, golf clap.
ANOTHER reason these robotaxis suck.
ET phone home!!!