Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a dig at Waymo after its robotaxis stalled at intersections in San Francisco. This incident caused traffic across the city during a major blackout.
Musk wrote on X, “Tesla Robotaxis were not affected by the SF power outage,” retweeting videos that showed Waymo cars halting at intersections where the street lights controlling the traffic signals were also out. He also retweeted other videos that showed a Tesla Robotaxi going through an intersection with its traffic lights not working.
Wired reported that Waymo briefly halted its self-driving ride-sharing service in the Bay Area due to a blackout that left 130,000 households and businesses without electricity. Several videos posted on social media showed Waymo self-driving vehicles stopped at crosswalks while impatient motorists honked and drove around them. Waymo spokesman Waymo told Fox News Digital that it had resumed its services following the Saturday outage. He informed, “Saturday’s power outage was a citywide problem, which caused traffic jams in San Francisco because of malfunctioning traffic lights.”
Waymo reported that its self-driving technology was programmed to treat non-functioning traffic signals as four-way stops. Nonetheless, the outage's severity caused some cars to pause for longer, contributing to congestion.
The firm said, “We are committed to working swiftly to integrate lessons learned from experience into our performance to respond effectively to major infrastructure incidents.”
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The blackout was caused by a fire at a Pacific Gas and Electric Company substation in the city’s Mission District. PG&E said the damage was ‘significant and extensive,’ making restoration complex.
By Sunday morning, power was restored to about 110,000 customers. Approximately 21,000 homes, mainly in the western and central parts of the city, were still without electricity.