tech
December 25, 2025
Waymo explains why its robotaxis got stuck during the SF blackout
The company also said its robotaxis navigated more than 7,000 dark stoplights successfully on Saturday.
TL;DR
- Waymo is shipping a software update to improve how its robotaxis handle disabled traffic lights during power outages.
- During a recent San Francisco blackout, Waymo vehicles treated dead traffic lights as four-way stops, but many requested confirmation checks from the fleet response team.
- This led to a concentrated spike in requests and contributed to congestion.
- The new update will provide specific power outage context to the self-driving software for more decisive navigation.
- Waymo also stated that its vehicles successfully navigated over 7,000 dark signals during the outage.
- This event highlights ongoing challenges in refining autonomous vehicle software and reliability, similar to past issues with school bus detection.
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