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| Waymo pauses the test for fear of electoral chaos |
Waymo pulled its self-driving cars off the streets of San Francisco in anticipation of the chaotic election days ahead.
The Google subsidiary has temporarily suspended testing activities in San Francisco on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It has moved its fleet of self-driving cars to Mountain View and is going to park it in a safe place.
"This decision was taken out of very cautious considerations ahead of the planned protests against the parliamentary elections," said Chris Cheung, Transdev's chief executive and in charge of operating the Waimo fleet.
Zhang added that San Francisco safety drivers will be paid during the lockdown and the Waymo Mountain View fleet will continue to test them on public roads.
Waymo Safety Drivers have to manually drive self-driving cars from San Francisco to Mountain View.
A spokesperson for Waymo said: “Due to extreme caution and safety considerations of our team, we have temporarily suspended operations at the San Francisco headquarters.”
Waymo isn't the only company anticipating election chaos. Companies in the United States have placed wooden panels on windows and tightened security measures to prevent protests and potential theft.
The elections took place against the backdrop of a global pandemic and nationwide protests against police killings of unarmed women and blacks.
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, Waymo temporarily stopped testing about 600 vehicles in March.
Some security drivers complained that the company was slow to respond to the health crisis, but Waymo insisted that appropriate action be taken.
The company continued testing in the San Francisco Bay Area through May, even as the number of coronavirus cases increased in California and across the country.
Security drivers have expressed concern that the company will continue operating during the massive summer bushfires on the West Coast.
Waymo suspended testing day in early September when the air quality was very poor.