During the U.S. Independence Day holiday, a series of Waymo autonomous taxis in San Francisco were stranded after their batteries died due to heavy traffic, leading to a towing incident.
According to the U.S. business news outlet Business Insider on July 5 (local time), several Waymo vehicles malfunctioned or came to a halt on the road during Independence Day celebrations in San Francisco, California, the previous day.
The vehicles became trapped in severe congestion, which led to their batteries draining and necessitated towing, further exacerbating the traffic jam.
One citizen posted a video of a Waymo vehicle being towed on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), stating, "We were told it could take 3 to 4 hours to tow the broken-down cars and get traffic moving again."
Another Waymo user posted footage of the vehicle they were riding in driving over fireworks that were being set off on the road.
Waymo attributed the incident to severe traffic congestion and unexpected road closures in the northern part of San Francisco immediately following the fireworks display held at the Golden Gate Bridge.
"We worked with local authorities and emergency services, and our roadside assistance team quickly removed the vehicles," said Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli. "Our team is looking for ways to improve our response capabilities in large-scale traffic gridlock situations."
No injuries were reported during the process.
Waymo vehicles previously sparked controversy last month when ABC News captured footage of one driving into oncoming traffic in Inglewood, California, where traffic was heavy due to the World Cup.
In December of last year, the vehicles also caused further congestion by stopping in intersections after traffic lights ceased functioning due to a power outage in the San Francisco area.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Google's parent company Alphabet, currently operates 2,500 vehicles across approximately 10 major U.S. metropolitan areas and plans to expand its service regions to Europe and Japan.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)