Waymo Resumes Service in San Francisco After Robotaxis Stall During Blackout
suspended its robotaxi service in San Francisco on Saturday evening after a massive blackout appeared to leave many of its vehicles stalled on city streets.
However, the company has now resumed service, with a spokesperson stating that the power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco.
Meanwhile, the blackout also took down many of the city’s traffic lights and affected Muni mass transit, with San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie warning residents to stay off the roads unless they needed to travel.
What Caused the Blackout?
According to reports, the blackout was caused by a fire at a Pacific Gas & Electric substation in the city.
Consequently, around 120,000 PG&E customers were affected by the blackout, with the majority of them having power restored by late Saturday.
Moreover, PG&E’s website showed thousands of San Francisco customers still affected at that time.
Waymo’s Response
Waymo said that although its self-driving systems are designed to treat non-functioning traffic lights as four-way stops, the scale of Saturday’s blackout caused some robotaxis to remain stationary for longer than normal.
Therefore, the company is “focused on rapidly integrating the lessons learned from this event, and are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve every day.”
In addition, Waymo is now providing 450,000 robotaxi rides per week, nearly double the amount that the Alphabet-owned company disclosed in the spring.
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