Waymo’s July 4 chaos in San Francisco raises new questions about how robotaxis can work at scale

Call it AV déjà vu: Once again, Waymo’s performance during a major disruption is raising questions about whether it is ready to operate at scale. Over the July 4 weekend, Waymo vehicles clogged San Francisco streets near the city’s fireworks celebration. A string of robotaxis, apparently unaware of event-related road closures, worsened the already severe gridlock. The batteries in some of the autonomous vehicles died, requiring them to be towed. At least one Waymo drove straight through a…