Waymo robotaxis keep driving into the same dead-end street in San Francisco

A KPIX report (San Francisco television station) says residents of the Richmond district in San Francisco recently saw a constant stream of Waymo driverless cars turning around on the dead-end 15th Avenue street. One resident said the cars arrive around the clock. The report even recorded two Waymo cars trying to turn around at the same time. 

District resident Jennifer King said: "Some days there can be up to 50. Literally every five minutes. And we all work from home and hear it." 

So why are Waymo driverless cars making turn after turn on a dead-end street in San Francisco? The company said this has nothing to do with a tangled self-driving technology, mapping problems, or a maneuver it is trying to improve. Waymo representatives told The Robot Report that it is the result of San Francisco's Slow Streets program, which was introduced at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. 

San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced the program in April 2020 to restrict traffic on certain residential streets and allow them to be used as shared space for people walking and cycling. Slow Streets initially covered 7 km of city streets. By mid-May, however, this figure had quickly grown to 32 km, and a year later to about 72 km. The program may become permanent. 

The Slow Streets description states: "To support further reopening of the economy, we need to make San Francisco more welcoming and accessible to people who want to walk, bike, use a wheelchair, scooter, skateboard or other forms of micromobility. Slow Streets is critical infrastructure that attracts users from all segments of the neighborhood population, including children, older adults, and people with disabilities." 

One area where these Waymo cars operate falls under the Slow Streets program. All vehicles, human-driven or autonomous, traveling north on 15th Avenue must make a U-turn at some point. There is no other exit from this stretch. Barriers prohibit traffic on Lake Street east and west of 15th Avenue, and signs and barriers prohibit northbound traffic on 15th Avenue. 

In a Waymo statement: "We constantly adapt to San Francisco's dynamic traffic rules. In this case, vehicles heading north on 15th Avenue from California Street must turn around because of Slow Streets signs on Lake Street. So the Waymo system followed the same traffic rules that any car is required to follow." 

Of course, like all autonomous vehicles, Waymo cars still get confused in some edge cases. One of the most notable incidents happened in the spring, when one of the company's cars in Arizona repeatedly got confused by traffic cones. The car then several times avoided help from a human. 

The problematic trip took place on May 3, 2021. A Waymo robotaxi needed to turn right onto a multi-lane main road, but the rightmost lane was blocked by orange construction cones that confused the car. When the planning system cannot figure out how to handle a situation, it requests help on the road. A person must arrive within minutes to take control of the vehicle. 

However, before help arrived, the robotaxi drove onto the road and immediately stopped again, this time blocking traffic. In fact, the Waymo car got stuck two more times and tried to continue moving again before a roadside assistance employee could get into the vehicle, take over control, and complete the trip. The company said the situation was not ideal, but the Waymo system drove the car safely even before roadside assistance arrived. 

The passenger, despite everything, said: "These cars have almost never made me afraid that they were about to do something dangerous, and now it is hard for me to shake my trust. I knew I would survive unharmed." 

Along with competitor Cruise, Waymo recently received permission to offer robotaxi rides to passengers in California. Waymo's permit allows it to operate its vehicles in certain parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties. However, drivers responsible for human safety must be behind the wheel. Waymo vehicles are approved to drive on public roads with speed limits of no more than 105 km/h, and can also operate in rain and light fog. 

To begin charging passengers for rides, Waymo must obtain another permit from the California Public Utilities Commission. 

Waymo began public testing in San Francisco in August 2021, with safety drivers behind the wheel. Since October 2020, the company has operated a public level 4 robotaxi service in some parts of Arizona. 

More than 50 companies hold permits to test autonomous vehicles in California. In 2020, vehicles drove more than 3 million km autonomously on public roads in this US state. Waymo and Cruise together accounted for 70% of all autonomous kilometers driven in California in 2020.