A power outage in San Francisco over the weekend left more than 100,000 households without power, but also turned off numerous traffic lights in several city neighborhoods. In such conditions, numerous Wayma robotaxis vehicles stopped in the middle of the intersection, with all four blinkers on, creating delays and nervousness among classic car drivers.
According to the statements of city officials, traffic in some parts of the city almost stopped at times as lines of vehicles tried to go around motionless robot taxis at dark intersections. Videos of groups of Waymo vehicles blocking traffic lanes, while drivers and cyclists try to squeeze between them, soon appeared on social media.
Reaction Wayma
Waymo later said the vehicles were programmed to treat malfunctioning or out-of-order traffic lights as a four-way stop, but that “the extent of the power outages led to situations where vehicles remained stationary longer than usual to confirm the condition of the intersection.” The company temporarily suspended ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday night, after the mayor’s office warned of serious traffic problems caused by the stalled robot taxis.
Despite the traffic jams, city officials reported that there were no accidents or injuries involving Waymo vehicles during the incident. Police, firefighters and other city officials have been deployed to key intersections to manually direct traffic and relieve the worst-hit areas.
According to the data of the local electricity distribution company, the power outage was caused by a fire in the substation, which temporarily cut off the power supply for about a third of the city, and tens of thousands of users remained without electricity the following day as well. While the crews worked to restore the network, part of the public transport was suspended, which added to the burden on the city streets, which were relied on by a large number of passengers. Waymo began rolling out its service Sunday afternoon.
Questions about the resilience of technology
The incident further fueled the debate about how prepared robotaxis are for emergency situations, such as power outages or earthquakes, especially in a city that lies in a seismically active area. Experts warn that autonomous systems rely not only on sensors and algorithms in the vehicle, but also on stable traffic and communication infrastructure, the interruption of which can lead to such delays. However, the episode with the traffic lights turned off and the intersections blocked served as a very visible reminder that the transition to fully autonomous traffic comes with numerous, as yet insufficiently examined, risks.