All it took was a little fog to paralyze a normally calm neighborhood in San Francisco. In question, robotaxis which refused to continue driving because of the weather conditions, creating a traffic jam while the fog lifted. A problem that adds to the long list of unforeseen for this nascent service.
The autonomous car is one of the great tech challenges of this decade and several companies are already trying to meet it. Before deploying the technology to the general public, several manufacturers are primarily focusing on robotaxis. In San Francisco, these are already circulating in the streets, which does not fail to cause some small unforeseen events.
Last week, heavy fog hit the California city around 6 a.m., as is often the case in this region. As a result, five vehicles from the manufacturer Waymo stopped in the Balboa Terrace district, their sensors having deemed it too dangerous to drive in these conditions. While the neighborhood is generally very quiet, the situation soon led to a huge traffic jam.
When robotaxis bring an entire neighborhood to a standstill because of the fog
The traffic finally clears up some time later, once the fog lifts and the robotaxis are back in motion. Asked by the media, Waymo said that a software update to improve the behavior of its cars in the event of fog is on the way. This is not enough to reduce the concern of local residents, after multiple collisions with the city’s public transport.
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“We have asked the authorities to collect data so that we can measure the positive and negative effects of self-driving on our streets before they are allowed to expand their activities during peak hours, when people need it the most. move and that our economy and our society depend on the ability of people to move”said Stephen Chun, spokesman for the San Francisco Department of Transportation.
Source : San Francisco Chronicle
