Waymo to Update Software Across Fleet After Major Power Failure

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo said it would strengthen its automated software to better handle power outages after its self-driving taxis froze and caused traffic jams during a major electricity failure last weekend in San Francisco.

The Waymo Driver system is programmed to handle dark traffic signals in the same manner as four-way stops, but a car will occasionally “request a confirmation check to ensure it makes the safest choice,” the company said Tuesday in a statement. While the vehicles “successfully” handled 7,000 traffic signals that were knocked out by San Francisco’s power failure on Dec. 20, the outage “created a concentrated spike in these requests,” the company said.