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Waymo pauses SF robotaxis during power outage
Waymo is making temporary service changes in San Francisco as a power outage affecting about 7,000 PG&E customers disrupts operations.
Image: TechCrunch
Waymo has made “temporary adjustments” to its San Francisco robotaxi service during a power outage that appears to have affected about 7,000 PG&E customers in the city.
A screenshot shared on social media shows the Alphabet-owned company telling riders that service is “temporarily paused” and that “freeway routes are unavailable.” Asked for comment, a Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch:
“We are making temporary adjustments to our service while we monitor local conditions. We know riders depend on us, and we will return to normal operations as soon as possible.”
The disruption follows earlier incidents in which blackouts caused problems for the company’s fleet. In December, a number of Waymo vehicles stalled on city streets during a blackout. A similar incident on the Fourth of July during a Golden Gate Bridge fireworks show paralyzed traffic.
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Those events have already drawn scrutiny from city officials. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has called for tougher state regulations to “adequately address how autonomous vehicles operate during major incidents, planned or not.”
Frontier Editor
Dan is our resident futurist, covering electric mobility, space exploration, and the smart home. He's interested in atoms just as much as bits. Whether it's a new battery chemistry, a reusable rocket, or a protocol that finally makes IoT devices talk to each other, Dan breaks down the engineering that pushes humanity forward.
via TechCrunch
