CleanTechnica•10 days ago
Waymo Gets Paralyzed By Venice Canal Parade
Key Takeaway
The incident serves as a cautionary tale for the energy sector, emphasizing that automated systems, while efficient, must be designed with extreme resilience to unpredictable real-world events to ensure continuous operation of critical infrastructure.
AI Summary
- •An autonomous vehicle (Waymo robotaxi) was unexpectedly stalled for 45 minutes by a non-standard, unpredictable external event (a Christmas canal parade).
- •This incident highlights the vulnerability of automated systems to unforeseen real-world disruptions, even those seemingly minor or localized, which can lead to significant operational delays.
- •For developers of smart grid technologies, automated energy management systems, or large loads relying on autonomous operations, this underscores the critical need for robust resilience planning and fail-safes against novel external factors.
- •It suggests that while automation offers efficiency, its deployment in critical infrastructure requires careful consideration of edge cases and the ability to adapt to or recover from highly unusual circumstances.
Topics
datacenterpolicy
Article Content
In what seems to be a weekly edition of “Weird Things Happening with Robotaxis,” a friend of mine sent me the following funny clip of a Waymo robotaxi being stalled for 45 minutes trying to cross a tiny bridge due to a Christmas canal boat parade going under the bridge. ... [continued] The post Waymo Gets Paralyzed By Venice Canal Parade appeared first on CleanTechnica .