Waymo explains why its robotaxis got stuck during the SF blackout

Waymo explains why its robotaxis got stuck during the SF blackout | TechCrunch

Tech-news autonomous vehicles, robotaxis, Waymo December 26, 2025

Waymo is shipping a software update to help its robotaxis navigate disabled traffic lights during power outages “more decisively,” the company said Tuesday in a blog post that explains why its self-driving vehicles got stuck at intersections during a blackout in San Francisco this past weekend.

Waymo said the self-driving system in its robotaxis treats dead stop lights as four-way stops, just like humans are supposed to. That should have allowed the robotaxis to operate normally in spite of the massive outage.

Instead, many of the vehicles requested a “confirmation check” from Waymo’s fleet response team to make sure what they were doing was correct. All Waymo robotaxis have the ability to make these confirmation checks. With such a widespread outage on Saturday, there was a “concentrated spike” in these confirmation requests, Waymo said, which helped create all the congestion caught on video.

Waymo said it built this confirmation request system “out of an abundance of caution during our early deployment” but that it is now refining it to “match our current scale.”

“While this strategy was effective during smaller outages, we are now implementing fleet-wide updates that provide the [self-driving software] with specific power outage context, allowing it to navigate more decisively,” the company wrote.

The software update will add “even more context about regional outages” to the company’s self-driving software. Waymo also said it will improve its emergency response protocols by “incorporating lessons from this event.”

While a lot of focus has been placed on the instances where Waymo’s robotaxis got stuck during the power outage, the company shared that its vehicles “successfully traversed more than 7,000 dark signals on Saturday.”

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“Navigating an event of this magnitude presented a unique challenge for autonomous technology,” the company wrote.

Saturday’s mess is the latest example of how Waymo is still uncovering unforeseen issues with its software and its approach to designing a reliable fleet of self-driving vehicles. The company already had to ship multiple software updates to make its robotaxis wait for stopped school buses, which prompted a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigation and led to a recall.

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‘Heated Rivalry’ Creator Reveals the Finale’s Biggest Changes From the Book and the Status of Season 2

US judge blocks detention of British social media campaigner

#Moon #phase #today #explained #Moon #April">

Moon phase today explained: What the Moon will look like on April 15, 2026
The New Moon is just around the corner, and over the next few nights the Moon will be almost invisible. For keen Moon gazers, this means less, if anything, to spot on its surface. Keep reading to see what’s happening tonight.What is today’s Moon phase?As of Wednesday, April 15, the Moon phase is Waning Crescent. Tonight, 7% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.Despite still some Moon on display, the percentage illuminated it too low to be able to spot any features on its surface.
When is the next Full Moon?The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.What are Moon phases?NASA explains that the Moon takes around 29.5 days to complete a full orbit around Earth, moving through eight distinct phases in the process. Although we always see the same side of the Moon, the portion lit by the Sun changes as it travels, creating the familiar cycle of full, partial, and crescent shapes. These changing views are known as the lunar phases, and there are eight:New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).

Mashable Light Speed

Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

#Moon #phase #today #explained #Moon #April

mwasimuddin125 0

The New Moon is just around the corner, and over the next few nights the Moon will be almost invisible. For keen Moon gazers, this means less, if anything, to spot on its surface. Keep reading to see what’s happening tonight.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Wednesday, April 15, the Moon phase is Waning Crescent. Tonight, 7% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.
Despite still some Moon on display, the percentage illuminated it too low to be able to spot any features on its surface.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.

What are Moon phases?

NASA explains that the Moon takes around 29.5 days to complete a full orbit around Earth, moving through eight distinct phases in the process. Although we always see the same side of the Moon, the portion lit by the Sun changes as it travels, creating the familiar cycle of full, partial, and crescent shapes. These changing views are known as the lunar phases, and there are eight:

New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).

Mashable Light Speed

Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

#Moon #phase #today #explained #Moon #April">Moon phase today explained: What the Moon will look like on April 15, 2026

The New Moon is just around the corner, and over the next few nights the Moon will be almost invisible. For keen Moon gazers, this means less, if anything, to spot on its surface. Keep reading to see what’s happening tonight.

What is today’s Moon phase?

As of Wednesday, April 15, the Moon phase is Waning Crescent. Tonight, 7% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.

Despite still some Moon on display, the percentage illuminated it too low to be able to spot any features on its surface.

When is the next Full Moon?

The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.

What are Moon phases?

New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).

Mashable Light Speed

Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).

First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.

Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.

Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.

Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)

Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.

Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.

#Moon #phase #today #explained #Moon #April

*insert Godzilla screeching sound* Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.

Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.

It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.

#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News">

Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer*insert Godzilla screeching sound* Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.Minus Zero is set in 1949, two years after the first movie, “and continues the story of the Shikishima family as they face an all-new calamity,” according to the official logline. Apparently that includes shifting the setting from Tokyo to New York, as we see Godzilla right next to the Statue of Liberty. Stars Ryunosuke Kamiki and Minami Hamabe will be reprising their roles, while director Takashi Yamazaki — who is also making a giant robot movie called Grandgear — will once again be helming the film. Toho also says that Minus Zero will be the first Japanese movie filmed for IMAX.It’s a busy time for the world’s most famous kaiju, who will also be appearing in the next entry in Legendary’s monsterverse with Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, and is currently featured in the Apple TV series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Godzilla Minus Zero, meanwhile, hits theaters on November 6th.#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News

mwasimuddin125 0

insert Godzilla screeching sound Here’s the very first look at the next big kaiju feature. Godzilla Minus Zero will continue the story of 2023’s Godzilla Minus One, which returned the franchise to the more grounded tone established in the original film, and while the new teaser trailer doesn’t show a whole lot, it suggests some big things for the series.

#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News">Godzilla Minus Zero stomps through New York in first teaser trailer

#Godzilla #stomps #York #teaser #trailerEntertainment,Film,News

Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a $1 billion round at an $18 billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

In December, the company was reportedly raising around $700 million at a $7.5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a $50 billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

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In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.

#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud">

AI data center startup Fluidstack in talks for B round at B valuation months after hitting .5B, says report | TechCrunch
Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a billion round at an billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

In December, the company was reportedly raising around 0 million at a .5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in 0 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026

In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.
#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud

mwasimuddin125 0

Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a $1 billion round at an $18 billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

In December, the company was reportedly raising around $700 million at a $7.5 billion valuation, sources told Bloomberg at the time, although it didn’t formally announce the close of that round. That round was said to be led by Situational Awareness, an AGI-focused fund founded by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner, and backed by Stripe’s Collison brothers, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman, and the AI investor and entrepreneur Daniel Gross.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

There’s good reason for the hype over Fluidstack. In November, Anthropic announced that it had signed a $50 billion deal with the startup to build data centers custom-designed for its needs in Texas and New York. Unlike hyperscalers like AWS, which serve all kinds of computing needs, Fluidstack’s infrastructure is built specifically for AI.

The deal was a huge vote of confidence for Fluidstack, a company that was relatively unknown in the U.S. Anthropic primarily uses AWS and Google Cloud to serve Claude (though it also has a partnership with Microsoft to supply Claude to that software giant’s customers). But just like rival OpenAI, Anthropic is growing so fast that it needs more capacity, and this deal gives Anthropic more control over its own cloud infrastructure.

This partnership is so significant to the startup that Fluidstack — which was spun out of Oxford and had been a rising star in Europe’s AI scene — relocated its headquarters from the U.K. to New York. Last month, it also pulled out of a key €10 billion AI project in France, Bloomberg reported, to focus on U.S. opportunities.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

In addition to Anthropic, it counts Meta, Poolside, Black Forest Labs, and others as customers. Prior to the deal with Anthropic, Fluidstack was probably best known for providing infrastructure to Mistral.

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.

#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud">AI data center startup Fluidstack in talks for $1B round at $18B valuation months after hitting $7.5B, says report | TechCrunch

Fluidstack, a startup that builds specialized data centers for AI companies, is in talks to raise a $1 billion round at an $18 billion valuation, potentially led by Jane Street, Bloomberg reports.

Should this deal come to fruition, it would more than double Fluidstack’s valuation in a matter of months.

Talks were apparently still ongoing for this round in February, at least with Google, which was considering kicking in $100 million to the round, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Techcrunch event

San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026

Fluidstack did not respond to a request for comment.

#data #center #startup #Fluidstack #talks #18B #valuation #months #hitting #7.5B #report #TechCrunchdata centers,fluidstack,neocloud

‘Heated Rivalry’ Creator Reveals the Finale’s Biggest Changes From the Book and the Status of Season 2

US judge blocks detention of British social media campaigner

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