Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#1

Post by rwoll » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:12 AM UTC

Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams
missionlocal.org

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#2

Post by ChrisArchitect » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:14 AM UTC

More discussion:

PG&E outages in S.F. leave 130k without electricity

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46342022

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#3

Post by rwoll » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:21 AM UTC

Prior to reading the article, I assumed Waymos were stuck due to an Internet connectivity issue. However, while the root cause is not explicitly stated, it sounds like the Waymos are “confused” by traffic lights being out.

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#4

Post by Adaptive » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:35 AM UTC

I couldn't find anything other than their first responders page but IMO any robo taxi operating in a metropolitan area should be publishing their disaster response & recovery plans publicly.

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#5

Post by asdff » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:36 AM UTC

It seems waymo's always fall apart when encountering something that wouldn't be in the training set. Such as a christmas parade:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NOqK8UEuWjs

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#6

Post by raldi » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:39 AM UTC

I'm surprised that either:

1. Nobody at Waymo thought of this,

2. Somebody did think of it but it wasn't considered important enough to prioritize, or

3. They tried to prep the cars for this and yet they nonetheless failed so badly

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#7

Post by platevoltage » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:52 AM UTC

rwoll wrote: post #3

Prior to reading the article, I assumed Waymos were stuck due to an Internet connectivity issue. However, while the root cause is not explicitly stated, it sounds like the Waymos are “confused” by traffic lights being out.

That sounds plausible. Humans for the most part can usually navigate that situation to a point. It wouldn't surprise me if Waymo cars weren't even trained for this scenario.

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#8

Post by porphyra » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:53 AM UTC

asdff wrote: post #5

It seems waymo's always fall apart when encountering something that wouldn't be in the training set. Such as a christmas parade: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/NOqK8UEuWjs

I don't understand how these cars keep getting stalled for half an hour or something. Surely there must be a team of teleoperators ready to jump in at any time?

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#9

Post by ajmurmann » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:53 AM UTC

rwoll wrote: post #3

Prior to reading the article, I assumed Waymos were stuck due to an Internet connectivity issue. However, while the root cause is not explicitly stated, it sounds like the Waymos are “confused” by traffic lights being out.

That's what I thought. Then I walked buy Waymos stuck in the middle of the block with nobody in front of them.

Re: Waymo halts service during S.F. blackout after causing traffic jams

#10

Post by jollymonATX » Sun, Dec 21, 2025, 5:56 AM UTC

rwoll wrote: post #3

Prior to reading the article, I assumed Waymos were stuck due to an Internet connectivity issue. However, while the root cause is not explicitly stated, it sounds like the Waymos are “confused” by traffic lights being out.

Would have hoped they trained for this but at least now they likely will be.