Waymo resumes service in San Francisco after robotaxis stall during blackout

Waymo resumes San Francisco robotaxi service after citywide blackout

Waymo resumed its robotaxi service in San Francisco after a massive blackout left many of its vehicles stalled on city streets.

What happened

Waymo suspended its SF robotaxi service Saturday evening when a widespread power outage caused numerous vehicles to stall at roads and intersections.

• Social media showed Waymo robotaxis stalled while human drivers were stuck behind or maneuvered around them.
• The blackout disabled many traffic signals and disrupted Muni transit, prompting Mayor Daniel Lurie to urge residents to avoid driving unless necessary.
• Reports attribute the outage to a fire at a PG&E substation, affecting roughly 120,000 customers with thousands still without power the next day.

Waymo's response

Waymo temporarily suspended service and resumed it by late Sunday afternoon, the company told TechCrunch.

"Yesterday's power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions," Waymo said. "While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events."

The spokesperson added Waymo is "focused on rapidly integrating the lessons learned from this event, and are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve every day."

Technical note on robotaxi behavior

Waymo's self-driving systems treat non-functioning traffic lights as four-way stops.

• During the outage, the scale of failures caused some robotaxis to remain stationary longer than normal while they assessed intersections.
• The company reported that the majority of active trips completed successfully despite disruptions.

Context & additional details

The outage coincided with reports that Tiger Global noted Waymo provided around 450,000 robotaxi rides per week, nearly doubling earlier figures.

Key takeaway

Waymo resumed operations after a large-scale utility failure disrupted traffic signals and public transit; the company will integrate lessons to better handle similar infrastructure outages.

FAQ

Did the blackout cause Waymo vehicles to crash?

No. Videos showed stalled robotaxis and traffic delays, but Waymo said most active trips completed successfully and did not report crashes tied to the outage.

Why did robotaxis stall during the power outage?

With traffic lights out, Waymo vehicles default to treating intersections as four-way stops; the unprecedented scale and complexity of the blackout made some vehicles pause longer while assessing safety.

Is Waymo expanding service despite incidents?

Yes. Independent notes suggest Waymo may be providing roughly 450,000 robotaxi rides per week, indicating growth even as the company refines responses to rare infrastructure failures.

Image credit: Vincent Woo/X. This post has been updated with Waymo's statement that service is resuming.