7 Waymo robotaxis block site visitors to San Francisco freeway on-ramp

Seven Waymo robotaxis blocked site visitors shifting onto the Potrero Avenue 101 on-ramp in San Francisco on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., based on video of the incident posted to Reddit and affirmation from Waymo.

Whereas routing again to Waymo’s metropolis depot that night, the primary robotaxi within the lineup got here throughout a street closure with site visitors cones. The one different path obtainable to the autos was to take the freeway, based on a Waymo spokesperson. California regulators recently approved Waymo to function its autonomous robotaxi service on San Francisco freeways and not using a human driver, however the firm remains to be solely testing on freeways with a human driver within the entrance seat. Waymo instructed TechCrunch it’s first prioritizing a protected and gradual scale of rider-only freeway operations in Arizona earlier than advancing in California.

After hitting the street closure, the primary Waymo car within the lineup then pulled over out of the site visitors lane that was blocked by cones, adopted by six different Waymo robotaxis. Human-driven vehicles have been then caught behind a number of the robotaxis; a video posted on-line reveals fed-up drivers getting out of their cars to bodily transfer the cones out of the best way so they may cross each the street closure and the stalled Waymos.

Waymo instructed TechCrunch it instantly dispatched its Roadside Help crew to manually retrieve the autos and that the entire occasion lasted not than half-hour.

It’s not the primary time Waymo autos have brought about a street blockage, however that is the primary documented incident involving a freeway. Cruise, GM’s autonomous car subsidiary, has come under scrutiny for a number of instances of its autos malfunctioning and blocking site visitors, first responders and public transit. In fact, human drivers block site visitors on a regular basis, however metropolis officers and first responders in San Francisco have expressed frustration with each not with the ability to entry and transfer robotaxis once they’re in the best way and never with the ability to problem site visitors citations to the autos. In San Francisco, there have to be a driver within the automobile with a purpose to problem a quotation.