This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Waymo, Alphabet’s (GOOGL, Financials) self-driving vehicle subsidiary, said it will update the software on all of its cars after a power outage in the San Francisco Bay Area this week caused problems for its operations. The business claimed the adjustments are designed to make its cars work better amid big problems, such blackouts that impair traffic lights and municipal infrastructure.The outage made the roads more dangerous, which tested how well self-driving cars can deal with abrupt system failures. Waymo stated in response that company is also changing its emergency response procedures to make sure that people work together better and make better decisions should similar things happen in the future.Waymo didn’t say exactly when the upgrades would happen, but the firm did say that they will happen on all of its cars. The event shows how hard it is for self driving cars to get from controlled testing to driving in real cities.Waymo is still a long-term investment on self-driving cars for Alphabet. Investors will be keeping a careful eye on how the business improves the technology and deals with problems in the real world as robotaxi services grow.
