Traffic signals failed in large portions of the California city while Waymo robotaxis stopped in streets and intersections<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A widespread power failure plunged San Francisco<\/a> into darkness on Saturday night, disrupting traffic citywide and forcing numerous self-driving Waymo<\/a> taxis to stop abruptly in the middle of streets and intersections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As electricity went out across large portions of the city, traffic signals failed, leaving autonomous vehicles unable to operate as normal. Photos<\/a> and videos<\/a> shared by users on X showed Waymo robotaxis frozen in place, backing up traffic and creating hazardous conditions for other drivers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waymo confirmed on Saturday evening that it had shut down its driverless ride-hailing service throughout San Francisco<\/a> after footage circulated online showing its vehicles blocking roads during the blackout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage,\u201d Waymo<\/a> spokesperson Suzanne Philion said in a statement to several news outlets. \u201cOur teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rolling blackouts affected roughly 130 homes and businesses throughout the day, according to<\/a> Pacific Gas & Electric Company. By Saturday evening, about 30% of PG&E customers in San Francisco were without power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mayor Daniel Lurie addressed residents in a video<\/a> posted to social media, urging them to \u201cplease stay off the roads and stay inside\u201d because traffic lights were not functioning. He said police officers were being dispatched to major intersections and high-traffic corridors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With signals dark across the city, Waymo vehicles appeared confused and came to a standstill. Social media posts showed robotaxis stopped at intersections while lines of human-driven cars piled up behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of the circulating videos and photos showed multiple Waymos immobilized in clusters. In several locations, two, three and sometimes as many as six vehicles<\/a> sat motionless \u2013 rain falling while other drivers maneuvered around them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The incident drew attention to how reliant autonomous vehicles are on surrounding infrastructure. Although Waymo often highlights that its vehicles perform better than human drivers in safety measurements, the outage demonstrated how failures outside the company\u2019s control, such as disruptions to the power grid, can severely affect operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Waymo currently operates the only paid robotaxi service in the US without safety drivers or onboard monitors, managing a fleet of about 2,500 vehicles. The company began offering paid autonomous rides in Phoenix, Arizona, in 2020, roughly 11 years after it first launched as Google\u2019s self-driving car project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Waymo has expanded gradually over time, it \u2013 like other<\/a> companies<\/a> in the autonomous vehicle space \u2013 has also been the subject<\/a> of federal investigations related to unexpected driving behavior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n