Waymo announced plans to improve how its vehicles make decisions following the power outage in San Francisco.

 

Waymo announced lessons learned from the widespread power outage in San Francisco, which caused many traffic lights to malfunction and resulted in Waymo vehicles stopping at intersections, obstructing traffic. Waymo temporarily suspended service due to this incident. During this time, Tesla showcased the system's ability to make decisions even in traffic light failures at intersections.

Waymo confirmed that its autonomous driving system is designed to handle traffic light malfunctions, even at intersections. However, the incident had a significant impact, with the system sending numerous requests for decision confirmation, leading to delayed responses and vehicles being stranded at intersections. The decision to suspend service was to reduce the burden on traffic controllers, in line with the city's request for citizens to stay home.

Waymo stated that lessons learned from this incident have led to improvements in the Waymo Driver system to enhance decision-making in traffic light malfunctions while maintaining safety standards. Furthermore, Waymo will utilize data from the widespread power outage to aid vehicle decision-making at intersections and will strengthen coordination with relevant local authorities, particularly in handling autonomous vehicles in similar situations.