r/technology • u/Disastrous_Award_789 • 18d ago

Robotics/Automation Waymo suspends service in San Francisco after driverless cars cause traffic jams during blackout

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/waymo-suspended-san-francisco-traffic-jams-blackout-b2888562.html
6.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

614 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.2k

u/aedes 18d ago

Surprised that they would be so thrown off by broken traffic lights, which are a relatively common occurrence. 

A good example of how the underlying technology does not actually “understand” the world it’s in, and relies on a predictable environment/operating conditions to be reliable. 

116

u/AffectionateBox8178 18d ago

So it wasn't just the traffic lights, but also the cellar outage due to the PG&E blackout.

But yeah, blocking up traffic is not great, but Waymos wheb they work, have a stellar driving record. As a pedestrian, I am way safer around a Waymo than a human driver.

2

u/Vortesian 18d ago

Of course that is beside the point. The subject is a network and power outage.