San Francisco Blackout Freezes Waymo Fleet, Exposing Critical AV Vulnerability
A massive San Francisco power outage stranded Waymo's driverless cars, causing major traffic jams. The incident highlights a critical vulnerability in infrastructure-dependent AVs, drawing stark comparisons to Tesla's FSD performance.
The Lead: Lights Out, Robocars Stranded
A major power outage that swept across San Francisco this past Saturday didn't just cut electricity to some 130,000 customers; it brought a fleet of Waymo's sophisticated autonomous vehicles to a grinding halt. The incident paralyzed traffic and raised urgent questions about the real-world resilience of today's robotaxi technology.
The Story: One City, Two Responses
According to utility provider Pacific Gas and Electric Company, the blackout hit the city hard, but its most visible impact was on the streets. As traffic lights went dark, Waymo's all-electric SUVs were effectively immobilized. Social media platforms were quickly flooded with images and videos showing the company's vehicles sitting stationary in intersections, unable to navigate the chaotic, human-driven traffic flow around them.
The resulting gridlock demonstrated a critical dependency. However, a competing narrative quickly emerged. Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted, "Tesla Robotaxis were unaffected by the SF power outage." His claim was seemingly corroborated by videos posted by some Tesla owners, which showed their vehicles navigating the same intersections using the company's Full Self-Driving (FSD) feature. It's important to note these claims originate from the company and its users, not from independent verification.
PRISM Insight: This incident is far more than a momentary glitch; it's a real-world stress test that exposes a fundamental schism in autonomous driving strategy. Waymo's approach, heavily reliant on high-definition maps and functioning digital infrastructure like traffic signals, proved to have a single point of failure. When the infrastructure went down, so did the fleet. In contrast, systems like Tesla's, which prioritize real-time visual processing to interpret the world 'as-is,' may hold a crucial advantage in these unpredictable edge-case scenarios. The ability to handle a dead traffic light isn't a minor feature—it's a defining test of a system's true autonomy, and it may become a key differentiator in the race to a driverless future.
관련 기사
캘리포니아 법원이 테슬라의 '완전 자율주행' 마케팅에 제동을 걸었습니다. 단순한 과징금을 넘어, 테슬라의 기술 비전과 투자 가치에 미칠 심층적 영향을 분석합니다.
캘리포니아 법원이 테슬라의 FSD 마케팅을 '기만적'이라 판결했습니다. 이 결정이 테슬라의 브랜드와 자율주행 산업 전체에 미칠 심층적 영향을 분석합니다.
테슬라가 안전 요원 없이 자율주행 테스트를 시작했습니다. 이는 웨이모와의 경쟁에서 중대한 승부수이자, FSD의 미래 가치를 결정할 위험한 도박입니다. 심층 분석.
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