Waymo’s autonomous cars now ferry thousands of passengers every day across several cities, having overcome doubts and fears along the way. But now, one of the robotaxis’ inherent features is frustrating San Francisco officials all over again.
At a Monday hearing to discuss Waymo’s troubles during December’s PG&E outage that cut power to a third of the city, San Francisco supervisors and the director of the city’s emergency response complained about police and firefighters having to serve as “roadside assistance” for immobilized Waymo vehicles. Back in 2023, these worries about time-pressed first responders reached a feverpitch but eventually quieted; now, the December snafu is putting the topic back on city leaders’ to-do lists.
Mary Ellen Carroll, who leads San Francisco’s Department of Emergency Management, testified on Monday about her team’s difficulty getting in touch with Waymo the night of the outage while residents complained about the cars blocking intersections and snarling traffic — one staffer was on hold for more than 50 minutes. She said dialogue with the company since has been “collaborative.” But when Supervisor Bilal Mahmood asked a broad question about how Carroll would still like to see Waymo and other AV operators change, she pointed to the issues for police…