Waymo Faces Scrutiny Over Autonomous Car Stalls During San Francisco Blackout
Following a widespread power outage in San Francisco that left numerous Waymo cars stranded on the streets, the company has yet to fully reassure city officials about preventing future incidents. The December 20 outage, caused by PG&E, affected a third of the city’s residents, leaving many in the dark for extended periods. Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, which stalled across the city, drew significant public complaints on social media.
During a recent Board of Supervisors meeting, Waymo representatives offered apologies and outlined improvements, including enhanced automated alerts for major issues like power outages affecting traffic signals. However, specifics about increased staffing were not disclosed, and reliance on first responders to move stalled vehicles remains a concern.
Michael Magee, Waymo’s public policy manager, admitted that communication with city officials during the power outage was insufficient. Mayor Daniel Lurie’s attempts to contact Waymo’s co-CEO initially resulted in only emoji replies instead of meaningful dialogue. Magee stated, “We acknowledge today, again, that we did not meet our standards during the outage.”
Company data revealed that Waymo’s fleet halted 1,593 times for over two minutes during the blackout, with 64 vehicles requiring retrieval by staff or tow trucks. In two instances, city first responders had to manually drive the cars. Mary Ellen Carroll, executive director of the Department of Emergency Management, noted that the city’s 911 dispatch received numerous calls about the stranded vehicles, with one dispatcher kept on hold for 53 minutes.
City officials expressed concerns about the autonomous fleet potentially hindering emergency responders during critical situations. Carroll commented, “In a sense, they’re becoming a default roadside assistance for these vehicles, which we do not think is tenable.”
Waymo spokesperson Sam Cooper acknowledged the challenge, stating that the status quo is “not acceptable.” Although the company has trained 1,000 first responders in San Francisco to handle the robotaxis, the need for improvement is evident. Supervisor Bilal Mahmood remarked, “Frankly, what I’m hearing mostly is that you kind of still expect our first responders to do roadside assistance, and you are just going to help us train them better to do that.”
The blacked-out traffic signals contributed to the stalling of Waymo cars, which treat such situations as four-way stops. A “confirmation check” from one of Waymo’s 70 remote assistance operators was required to get the cars moving again, but remote driving isn’t possible without someone in the driver’s seat. This led to a backlog for staff, leaving vehicles idle longer than anticipated.
Waymo has since implemented a software update to reduce reliance on human operators when dealing with disabled lights. The company also claimed to have “improved escalation protocols” to ensure swift action during outages but did not provide detailed plans.
While Waymo pointed to PG&E for providing inaccurate restoration times, the company did not specify how much it plans to increase staffing to prevent similar future issues. Magee stated, “I don’t have a specific percentage on that.”
Original Story at sfstandard.com