Tesla CEO Elon Musk took a swipe at Waymo after its self-driving cars stopped moving at intersections in San Francisco, causing traffic jams during a widespread blackout over the weekend.
Waymo temporarily suspended its autonomous ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday after a massive power outage knocked out electricity to about 130,000 homes and businesses. Video was shared online of Waymo self-driving cars appearing to be stalled at intersections, triggering traffic jams across affected areas.
“Tesla Robotaxis were unaffected by the SF power outage,” Musk posted on X, along with a repost of video showing Waymo vehicles stopped at an intersection with down traffic lights as a line of cars honk and attempt to go around them. Musk also reposted a video purportedly showing a Tesla self-driving car navigating an intersection with non-functioning traffic lights.
A Waymo spokesperson told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement on Sunday afternoon that it was resuming ride-hailing service in the area after choosing to temporarily pause service on Saturday evening.
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“[Saturday’s] power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions,” the spokesperson said. “While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events.”
Waymo Driver, the company’s fully autonomous driving technology, is designed to treat non-functional traffic signals as four-way stops, according to the company.
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The scale of the outages on Saturday, however, led to instances where Waymo’s self-driving cars remained stopped longer than usual to check the status of the affected intersections, contributing to gridlock, the company said.
The spokesperson said the company is “focused on rapidly integrating the lessons learned from this event.”
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| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 481.20 | -2.17 | -0.45% |
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Waymo is owned by Alphabet Inc., the same parent company as Google.
The massive power outage was caused, at least in part, by a fire that broke out inside a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. substation at 8th and Mission streets. Blackouts affected about 130,000 homes and businesses, about a third of the utility’s customers.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TSLA | TESLA INC. | 481.20 | -2.17 | -0.45% |
| GOOG | ALPHABET INC. | 308.61 | +4.86 | +1.60% |
PG&E said in an update Sunday morning that damage from the fire in its substation was “significant and extensive,” noting that repairs and restoration would be “complex.”
As of 7:30 a.m. Sunday, the utility company said that crews had restored electricity to about 110,000 customers, with about 21,000 customers remaining without power, mainly in the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and small areas of downtown San Francisco.
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