SAN FRANCISCO — Emergency first-responder leaders from San Francisco and Austin told federal regulators in a private meeting last month that they were frustrated with the performance of Waymo's driverless vehicles on their streets. Officials said city firefighters, police officers, EMTs and paramedics are spending time during emergencies resolving issues with frozen or stuck autonomous vehicles, and that performance is getting worse.

Waymo has been ferrying passengers without drivers in San Francisco and Austin for more than a year. Autonomous vehicle operations are regulated by state officials in California and Texas rather than city officials.

"They are committing more traffic violations," said Mary Ellen Carroll, Executive Director of the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management. Patrick Rabbitt, head of the San Francisco Fire Department, said Waymo vehicles blocking fire stations can prevent firetrucks from responding to emergencies in a timely and appropriate way. "Their default is to freeze," he said.

William White, a lieutenant and head of the Highway Enforcement Command at the Austin Police Department, said Waymo vehicles frequently freeze up, stymying first responders, and often fail to recognize or respond to officers' hand signals, leading to cascading delays during emergencies or unusual road incidents. He said the vehicles can also get stuck when they interact with people. "I believe the technology was deployed too quickly in too vast amounts, with hundreds of vehicles, when it wasn't really ready," White said.

Austin first responders appeared before the City Council last month to discuss Waymo's response to an incident in which a driverless vehicle blocked an ambulance for two minutes. Officers said they were able to connect quickly with Waymo operators to move the vehicle, but in past incidents it has taken up to three minutes to connect with a remote agent. Waymo did not attend the meeting, and two front-row chairs labeled "RESERVED FOR: WAYMO" remained empty during the two-hour session.

Carroll testified before the San Francisco City Council last month about a December power outage that left more than 1,000 Waymo vehicles stranded for at least a few minutes. The stranded vehicles struggled to navigate intersections without traffic signals, and more than 60 had to be retrieved manually during the three-hour blackout. In one instance, a 911 operator waited 53 minutes on Waymo's hotline. "I definitely stay awake at night thinking about things that could happen and how we integrate this new technology," Carroll said.

"Anything that brings a high volume of calls to 911 around these kinds of things can delay response, delay our call time for people that have true life-and-death situations," she said.

Waymo changed internal policies and increased engagement and training with first responders following the power outage. The company has conducted in-person training for more than 35,000 emergency responders across the country.