Waymo’s San Francisco outage raises doubts over robotaxi readiness during crises

On December 20, a big power outage happened in San Francisco that left many Waymo self driving taxis at crossings, resulting in traffic congestion and concerns about how robotaxi services are ready to handle large scale emergencies like earthquakes. Even though Waymo claimed that its vehicles are capable of dealing with traffic lights that stop operating, there are many orders to get a confirmation of the human operator due to the numerous requests during the blackout, leading to delays. Experts indicate that the incident demonstrates that there is a need to tighten the regulations, particularly on remote human control and backup systems, during calamities. The regulators in California are currently investigating the case and contemplating heavier safety and emergency reaction principles in autonomous vehicle companies.