Bike Lanes Mandated for SF Drivers

A self-driving car stalled on a busy San Francisco street Sunday, according to a social-media video. The autonomous Waymo vehicle blocked a traffic lane on Valencia Street, the video shows.

The resulting congestion took place in the area of a controversial bike lane on Valencia Street, which has a long history of bicycle crashes. A construction project intended to improve cyclist safety started in April, creating a bikeway in the middle of the street between two opposing lanes of traffic.

In Sunday’s social-media video, multiple cars can be seen driving into the Valencia bike lane to bypass the apparently stalled Waymo vehicle. 
This isn’t the first time a self-driving car has obstructed traffic for San Francisco drivers.

SFMTA spokesperson Stephen Chun told SFGATE that the agency is investigating the reported stalled autonomous vehicle in the Valencia bike lane. He noted that SFMTA doesn’t regulate the vehicles, but the California Public Utilities Commission will vote on Thursday on whether to allow autonomous vehicles to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week in the city.

Several cars owned by Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, or Cruise, another SF-based company that is part of General Motors, have stalled in the middle of SF roads in recent months, according to previous SFGATE reporting. In July, a witness told SFGATE that he saw a “whole spectacle” after a Waymo vehicle stalled near 19th and Mission as ranchers unloaded a forklift.

Part of their technology is a “redundant braking system,” which is a secondary braking system that fully stops the car if needed, the company explains. The vehicles are built with a system of complex data and 3-D sensors that are supposed to anticipate traffic, signs, signals, and other surroundings of the road.

Waymo did not respond to SFGATE’s request for comment about the incident captured on Sunday.

Waymo’s vehicles have accounted for 79 autonomous vehicle accidents from January through April 2023, while Cruise vehicles have accounted for 136 autonomous vehicle crashes, according to approximate data provided to SFGATE by the SFMTA.

Chun said the SFMTA believes that automated driving will eventually improve safety, as well as provide other benefits for San Francisco travelers, but the technology isn’t fully developed yet. One of the main issues with the vehicles is “bricking,” he said — or when the cars stop in the middle of an intersection, creating traffic and safety issues, like what happened Sunday.

“When human drivers get confused or have engine trouble, they find a safe place to pull over and sort things out,” Chun said in an email statement. “When [autonomous vehicles] get confused, they simply stop wherever they happen to be.”