Waymo Updates Software After Power Outage Fiasco Stalls Self-Driving Cars in San Francisco

• Waymo's self-driving taxis stalled and caused traffic backups in San Francisco during a major power outage last weekend.
• The incident, caused by a PG&E Corp. substation fire, affected over 130,000 customers on December 20.
• Waymo announced software updates to better handle power outages, integrating more "context" for decisive navigation.
• Current Waymo Driver system treats dark traffic lights as four-way stops, leading to a "spike" in safety confirmation requests during the outage.
• Videos showed numerous Waymo cars stopped, flashing hazard lights, and causing severe congestion.

Why It Matters: Waymo to update software for better power outage handling after San Francisco self-driving car stalls.