San Francisco Power Outage Disrupts Waymo Robotaxi Service

A major power outage in San Francisco disrupted Waymo’s robotaxi service, leaving driverless cars stuck at intersections after traffic lights went dark. Read the details.

A large-scale power outage in San Francisco turned into an unexpected stress test for autonomous transport. Over the weekend, Waymo’s robotaxis were effectively brought to a halt after a fire at a Pacific Gas and Electric Company substation knocked out traffic lights and street lighting across parts of the city. More than 100,000 residents were left without electricity, and normal traffic control systems stopped functioning.

Dozens of driverless Jaguar I-Pace vehicles operated by Waymo were seen standing still at intersections. Videos and photos shared on social media showed the cars with hazard lights on, apparently unable to decide how to proceed without working traffic signals. In some areas, this led to congestion and significant disruption to traffic flow.

Waymo confirmed that it temporarily suspended its ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area. The company said the decision was made to protect riders and to ensure that emergency personnel could move freely through the city. Operations resumed only after PG&E reported that power had been restored to most affected customers.

The company did not disclose the precise technical reason why its vehicles struggled in intersections without active signals. Waymo’s autonomous system relies on pre-mapped data, sensor input and, in unusual situations, assistance from remote fleet response agents. These operators can monitor camera feeds and a 3D representation of the vehicle’s surroundings to help resolve complex scenarios.

The outage may have further complicated matters by putting additional strain on mobile networks, as residents switched from Wi-Fi to cellular data during the blackout. While this raised questions about data availability for remote support, Waymo did not confirm whether connectivity issues played a direct role.

The incident comes as competition in the U.S. robotaxi market intensifies. Tesla CEO Elon Musk was quick to comment that Tesla’s robotaxis were unaffected by the San Francisco outage. However, there are no independent tests comparing how different autonomous systems perform during large-scale infrastructure failures.

For now, the San Francisco blackout has highlighted the limits of current autonomous taxi services when faced with widespread urban disruptions. Regulators have not announced any penalties related to the incident, but the episode is likely to fuel further debate over how prepared driverless vehicles really are for the unpredictability of real-world cities.