A massive power outage in San Francisco left Waymo robotaxis stranded at darkened intersections, forcing a service suspension and sparking debate over autonomous vehicle resilience during infrastructure failures.
The promise of autonomous transportation hit a physical hurdle this weekend in San Francisco, not from a software glitch within the vehicles, but from the crumbling infrastructure surrounding them. A massive power outage that plunged tens of thousands of households into darkness also brought the city's fleet of Waymo robotaxis to a standstill. According to reports from The New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, the widespread loss of electricity disabled traffic signals across the city, causing the autonomous vehicles (AVs) to stall, block intersections, and eventually forcing the Alphabet-owned company to suspend operations entirely.
The incident, which occurred in late December 2025, has reignited critical conversations regarding the readiness of driverless technology to handle civic emergencies. While human drivers navigated the darkened intersections with varying degrees of caution, the algorithmic caution programmed into Waymo's fleet resulted in gridlock, prompting city officials to call for investigations into the technology's resilience during disasters.
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The chaos began on Saturday evening when a widespread equipment failure at Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) knocked out power to a large swath of San Francisco. As traffic lights went dark, ABC7 San Francisco reported that numerous witnesses posted videos to social media showing Waymo cars "sitting at intersections, apparently confused."
The sequence of events unfolded rapidly:
- Saturday Evening: Power outage darkens traffic signals across San Francisco.
- Immediate Aftermath: Waymo vehicles, encountering unlit signals, default to safety protocols. AP News reports that cars stopped in the middle of intersections, unable to interpret the right of way.
- 8:00 PM: Recognizing the systemic failure, Waymo officially suspended its ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area, according to statements cited by the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Sunday/Monday: Service resumed after power was restored, but the backlog of stranded vehicles required manual retrieval or remote assistance in some instances.
In the wake of the disruption, Waymo has defended its vehicles' behavior while acknowledging the need for improvement. In a blog post cited by TechCrunch, the company explained that its vehicles are programmed to treat dark traffic lights as four-way stops-the legally correct maneuver for human drivers as well. However, the sheer volume of the outage and the erratic behavior of surrounding human traffic seemingly "overwhelmed" the system.
"Waymo is shipping a software update to help its robotaxis navigate disabled traffic lights during power outages 'more decisively'." - TechCrunch
According to InsideEVs, the mass failure of traffic lights triggered a flood of confirmation requests from the cars to remote human operators. This bottleneck in the remote assistance network contributed to the vehicles remaining stationary for extended periods. Reuters notes that Waymo has vowed to improve emergency response protocols and is deploying a fleet-wide software update to handle these scenarios more effectively.
The blackout has served as an inadvertent stress test for a far more dangerous scenario: a major earthquake. The New York Times highlighted concerns from San Francisco officials who are now questioning what happens when the "Big One" hits. If a standard power outage causes autonomous fleets to block emergency routes, the consequences during a seismic event could be catastrophic.
"A PG&E blackout that plunged San Francisco into darkness revealed how quickly self-driving vehicles can become obstacles when infrastructure breaks down," reports the San Francisco Chronicle. This vulnerability highlights a critical dependency: autonomous vehicles are currently designed to operate within a functioning infrastructure. When that infrastructure fails, the "fail-safe" mode of the vehicle-stopping-can become a hazard in itself.
The incident has also provided ammunition for competitors and critics. CNBC reported that Elon Musk claimed Tesla's driverless service remained unaffected during the blackout, contrasting his company's vision-based approach with Waymo's reliance on mapping and connectivity. Meanwhile, social media platforms like Reddit were flooded with footage of the snarled traffic, potentially damaging public trust just as Waymo seeks to expand to new markets.
The immediate fallout involves a software patch. Waymo has confirmed it is updating its fleet to navigate intersections without power more aggressively. However, the broader implications are regulatory. Police1 and local news outlets indicate that city officials are likely to demand more rigorous "disaster mode" testing for AV permit renewals.
As cities become smarter and more interconnected, the failure of one grid-electricity-cannot be allowed to cascade into the failure of another-transportation. This event proves that while autonomous vehicles have mastered the rules of the road, they are still learning how to handle the chaos when those rules disappear.
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