Google's Waymo driverless taxi is trapped by haze, causing traffic chaos in San Francisco

CTOnews.com, April 13 (Xinhua)-- Waymo, Google's self-driving technology company, recently encountered embarrassment in San Francisco. On Tuesday morning, five of the company's self-driving taxis came to a standstill on a downtown street because of thick fog, hampering traffic. Waymo said it will improve its performance in foggy days and parking through software updates.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the Waymo's five self-driving cars, Jaguar I-Pace electric cars, encountered thick fog covering the southwest while driving on a residential street in the Balbo Pavilion area of San Francisco. Four of the cars were parked in the first lane, while the fifth was parked in the middle lane, blocking traffic, which upset commuters during the morning rush hour. Witnesses said the driverless cars did not restart until the fog cleared, which took several minutes.

Chris Bonelli, a spokesman for Waymo, responded that the company plans to introduce software updates "to improve our performance in foggy days and parking in order to deal with such situations in the future."

It is worth noting that the San Francisco city government does not seem to have direct access to "system data" to compile reports of traffic disruptions or safety hazards caused by self-driving cars. " Currently, there are no regulatory requirements to report data on self-driving cars that hinder traffic or cause safety risks, "said Stephen Chun, a spokesman for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Department." We have asked state and federal regulators to collect data so that we can measure the positive and negative impact of self-driving cars on our streets before they are allowed to expand to peak travel hours. At that time, people needed to travel most, and our economy and society also depended on people being able to travel. "

According to CTOnews.com, Waymo's self-driving cars usually have a backup driver in the car to take control if things don't go according to plan. But in December 2022, Waymo applied for a license to provide a fully automated taxi service in San Francisco, just like its main rival General Motors' Cruise.