San Francisco is understood for its fog. The thick, low-hanging water vapor could make visibility tough, particularly behind the wheel. Now, it appears that evidently driverless autos are working into the identical downside — with 5 automobiles from Waymo’s fleet waylaid by fog this morning.
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Five Waymo autonomous autos gave up on traversing the San Francisco fog simply earlier than 6:00 am this morning, in accordance with the San Francisco Chronicle, deciding to drag over on the aspect of a residential road till circumstances improved. Unfortunately, the 5 autos have been clustered collectively, forming a roadblock that made a residential road impassable till the fog cleared.
Other drivers, unaware of the automobiles’ inhuman operation, tried in useless to get the crossovers to maneuver. They flashed their headlights and tried to suit previous the stopped Waymo autos, in a way that sounds very West Coast. A New Yorker would have stood nonetheless and simply laid on the horn for 2, probably three hours, or pushed via somebody’s yard to get round.
The Waymo automobiles reportedly resumed regular operation inside a matter of minutes, however the disruption remained an inconvenience for San Francisco residents. The fog, a situation to which all SF natives are accustomed, had now halted their morning commutes in a means they couldn’t management — a fleet of robots, unaccustomed to the lowered visibility, had determined the climate was too unhealthy.
The Waymo stoppage is the most recent story of automated car testing interrupting the conventional day by day lifetime of drivers. Of course, an AV gained’t know the best way to navigate fog with out ever experiencing it, but it surely looks as if the sort of testing greatest executed on a closed course — not slim aspect streets.
Source: jalopnik.com