2 Waymo Robotaxis Drove Over Fireworks, 1 Caught Fire in San Francisco
Updated
Updated · Entrepreneur · Aug 11
2 Waymo Robotaxis Drove Over Fireworks, 1 Caught Fire in San Francisco
3 articles · Updated · Entrepreneur · Aug 11
Summary
At least two Waymorobotaxis drove over exploding fireworks after San Francisco’s July 4 show, and one caught fire before stalling at the next intersection, the New York Times reported.
More than 100,000 people were leaving the waterfront when the driverless cars blocked intersections, snarled traffic and left some travelers stuck behind them for more than three hours.
Waymo and the broader autonomous-vehicle industry describe such rare, unprogrammed situations as “edge cases,” a challenge growing more visible as Waymo’s fleet has quintupled to nearly 4,000 cars in 15 metro areas.
Federal regulators have pushed back on that framing, saying emergency scenes are not rare edge cases, even as Waymo says its vehicles cause 94% fewer serious-injury crashes than human drivers.