In the past few years… bus and trolley operators have documented a growing presence on [San Francisco’s] streets: Waymo robotaxis, often devoid of any front-seat human driver, causing problems. Very often, transit operators flag a stalled robotaxi, or several, blocking a public street.
Clearing the vehicle might require a transportation official to reach out to a Waymo call center, or even the cops… This process… can take as long as an hour to resolve. Back in 2024, the city’s MTA even created a new dedicated dispatch category to log these reports: “Driverless Car Incident.”
ATMC database, obtained by Fast Company… suggests that reports of problematic robotaxis are being filed more often, and that the procedure for handling stalled vehicles is not yet seamless.
“Waymo is committed to continuous improvement,” Lety Cavalcante, [Waymo’s director of operations,] tells Fast Company. “We established even closer communication with San Francisco emergency officials, and are developing additional capabilities to facilitate smoother interactions…”