Waymo’s San Francisco outage raises doubts over robotaxi readiness during crises

A widespread power outage in San Francisco that led to Waymo robotaxis stalling and snarling traffic earlier this month has raised concerns ‍about the readiness of autonomous vehicle operators to tackle major emergencies like earthquakes and floods.

Driverless taxis from Alphabet unit Waymo, a ubiquitous feature on the city’s streets, were stuck ⁠at intersections with their hazard lights turned on as traffic lights stopped working following a fire at a PG&E substation that knocked out power to roughly one-third of the city on December 20, videos…