Waymo fail: Driverless cars in San Francisco get stuck as major power outage sparks traffic chaos
A major power outage that impacted over 100,000 homes in the United States has caused traffic chaos as the incident appeared too much for driverless cars.
San Francisco experienced the outage on Saturday night, with over 125,000 homes left in the dark. However, driverless taxis operated by US company Waymo were left in a darker place.
On the busy streets of San Francisco, as drivers attempted to navigate dangerous streets without functioning traffic lights, Waymo cars stopped.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The cars, which usually fit three people in the back seat, are fitted with an “advanced suite of car sensors”, with AI then helping the car “decipher what’s around it”.
Waymo says their Waymo Driver technology uses “highly detailed custom maps, matched with real-time sensor data and artificial intelligence (AI) to determine its exact road location at all times”.
However, a blackout appears to have been too much to compute. Waymos were seen stopped in the middle of intersections, completely blocking some, creating traffic mayhem.
The cars themselves did not lose power, instead, their sensors appeared to struggle with the lack of traffic light signals and the developing chaos around them as cars, being driven by real people, tried to go around to halted Waymos.
As the cars, which are booked through an app and cost slightly more than a regular Uber trip, continued to struggle to deal with the blackout, the company stepped in, halting all services.
“We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,” a Waymo spokesperson told NBC.
“We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.”
Online, users were quick to make fun of the driverless cars, saying it was proof that robots should not be allowed to take over.
“Waymo-ggedon is upon us,” one person wrote.
“waymo’s taking a power nap,” joked another.
Billionaire X owner, Elon Musk, who has fleets of self-driving Tesla’s across the United States, had a win as cars made by his company continued driving without a hitch.
“It is time to call the Waymo experiment over with. Tesla wins the crown. I think Tesla will be the last automobile manufacturer standing,” one person wrote.
