Now that General Motors’s Cruise has left San Francisco after one of its vehicles hit and dragged a pedestrian 20 feet along the ground, Waymo has taken the city by storm. Its Jaguar I-Paces fitted with the company’s self-driving technology can be seen all over the city as they try to master autonomous operation — and sometimes, they produce some rather entertaining content in the process.
The video in question today (embedded below) depicts a four-way Waymo traffic jam in San Francisco’s North Beach area, created when the autonomous cars try to figure out how to deal with an Amazon delivery van double-parked on a neighborhood street. The lead Waymo can be seen trying to pull out around the Amazon van – which would’ve put it in the lane of oncoming traffic – but it stopped short of fully doing so because another Waymo just so happened to approach from the opposite direction. Then, with one Waymo half-committed to going around the Amazon truck and the other stuck waiting to see if the lane will be blocked, two more Waymo cars pulled up behind the existing stand-off, in what can only be considered a case of excellent comedic timing.
Of course, a human driver could’ve sorted through this conundrum within seconds, and traffic would begin to flow again. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for the Waymos. The video’s creator spoke with Road & Track, and they said all four I-Paces were stuck staring at each other for about three to four minutes while traffic piled up behind them in both directions. They also noted plenty of honking and yelling from the humans stuck in the autonomous standoff.
Ultimately, the Waymo on the opposite side of the street to the Amazon van took the initiative and drove forward, clearing the jam. Nothing catastrophic happened, but it serves as an excellent example of the yet-unsolved problems with autonomous vehicles. Waymo is one of the most advanced autonomous driving companies in the world ... but its cars were stymied by a simple delivery van stopped in the street.
A Michigan-born car nut and racing enthusiast, Zac Palmer is talking about or thinking about cars somewhere. He bought his first when he was still 15, a 2001 Acura Integra GS-R that still resides in the garage today. It's now joined by a 2004 Porsche Boxster S, and there will be even less practical additions to follow. Palmer worked at both Autoweek and Autoblog before joining R&T.