Seven Waymo robot taxis blocked traffic at a motorway interchange in San Francisco

On Tuesday, 16 April, seven Waymo autonomous robot taxis blocked traffic at the Potrero Avenue 101 interchange in San Francisco.

Here's What We Know

The incident occurred as a convoy of robotaxis was returning to the Waymo depot in the evening. The first vehicle in the convoy ran into traffic cones blocking the roadway. The only route available was to exit onto the motorway.

Aline of driverless Waymos glitch out and block the Portrero Avenue 101 onramp
byu/dzdaniel84insanfrancisco

After blocking the road, the first robotaxi entered the lane with cones, followed by six other autonomous vehicles. This caused a traffic jam in which regular vehicles were stuck. Drivers got out of their cars to manually remove the cones and drive through the stalled robotaxis.

Waymo said it promptly dispatched its repair team, which retrieved the vehicles in less than 30 minutes.

Although California regulators recently allowed Waymo to use its autonomous robotaxi service on San Francisco motorways, the company is still only testing with human drivers in the front seat. The company said its priority is to safely and gradually scale up on motorways in Arizona before moving forward in California.

This is not the first time Waymo's robot taxi has blocked the road, but it is the first incident involving a motorway. San Francisco authorities have expressed frustration at not being able to ticket robotaxis for traffic violations.

Source: TechCrunch