San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has urged California regulators to introduce stronger rules governing autonomous vehicles after a major traffic disruption involving Waymo robotaxis during the Independence Day celebrations.

The incident left several driverless vehicles stranded in heavy traffic after their batteries ran low, blocking important roads and causing hours of congestion across the city.

In a letter to the California Department of Transportation, the mayor referenced both the July 4 traffic crisis and a widespread power outage that occurred in December.

He explained that these events exposed weaknesses in the current regulations, showing that autonomous vehicles are not yet fully prepared to operate effectively during emergencies or unusually large public gatherings.

Lurie proposed that companies operating robotaxi services should meet stricter operational standards.

These include the ability to quickly remove disabled vehicles from busy roads, adjust routes in real time, relocate pickup and drop-off points when necessary, and provide city authorities with live operational data whenever service disruptions occur.

He also recommended mandatory testing to prove that autonomous vehicles can function safely during periods of unusually high traffic.
According to the mayor, such measures would help prevent similar disruptions while improving public confidence in self-driving technology.

Waymo, which operates about 1,000 robotaxis in the San Francisco Bay Area and provides more than 500,000 paid rides each week across several cities, has not yet responded publicly to the mayor’s proposal.

Lurie emphasized that stronger regulations are intended to support the long-term success of autonomous vehicles rather than limit their development.

Source: Techcrunch