Waymo's Autonomous Cars Cause Traffic Chaos in San Francisco During Blackout

In San Francisco, a massive power failure on Saturday led to around 130,000 electricity customers being left in the dark. Simultaneously, another issue surfaced: Waymo’s driverless vehicles became immobilized on city streets, contributing to traffic congestion.

Images and videos that surfaced across social media depicted the motionless Waymo vehicles, sparking extensive delays. In contrast, some individuals posted footage of Tesla cars, which managed to navigate through the power-stricken streets using the Full Self-Driving (FSD) mode. Notably, Elon Musk mentioned on Twitter that Tesla's self-driven taxis experienced no disruption during the outage.

Waymo's Response and Technical Challenges

In response to inquiries, Waymo’s spokesperson Suzanne Philion stated that they had temporarily halted their ride services due to the extensive power outage. Her primary concern was to safeguard customers and to ensure that emergency crews could traverse the streets unimpeded. As of early morning, PG&E managed to restore service to the majority of their customers and was working to reconnect those still without power in specific San Francisco districts, following a substation fire.

The immobilization of Waymo's vehicles may be attributable to erratic wireless network connections exacerbated by downed cell towers or congestion from heavy usage. This is problematic since Waymo cars rely on data signals to receive directions from remote human operators during unusual road situations. Without these reliable connections, the cars cannot function optimally.

Remote Assistance Limitations

Normally, Waymo vehicles connect to human operators when they encounter unusual road conditions, offering live visuals along with 3D maps to assist in navigating. However, during widespread outages, the data bandwidth urgently required is difficult to sustain. Although Waymo claims to evaluate its remote support system consistently, details about their capacity during such crises remain sparse.

Ongoing Technological and Infrastructure Issues

The situation highlights existing challenges facing autonomous vehicle technology, particularly in terms of dependency on infrastructure. When systems like street lights lack power and data signals falter, the advancement of self-driving technology is significantly challenged. This incident illustrates the vulnerabilities within current autonomous systems, necessitating further innovation and robust backup solutions.