Waymo Halts San Francisco Robotaxi Operations After Major Power Outage

San Francisco, CA — Alphabet subsidiary Waymo has suspended its fully driverless ride-hail service across the San Francisco Bay Area after a widespread power failure stranded thousands of residents and appeared to immobilize several of the company’s autonomous vehicles on city streets.

A spokesperson said the pause began Saturday afternoon, shortly after electricity interruptions started rippling through northern and western neighborhoods. Waymo cited “the widespread power outage” as the reason for the decision and noted that technical and operations teams are working with municipal authorities to restore service. No timeline for resumption has been provided.

Vehicles reportedly stalled during blackout

As rolling blackouts intensified Saturday night, videos and photos circulated on social platforms showing Waymo cars stopped in traffic lanes. San Francisco resident Matt Schoolfield told local media he observed at least three stationary Waymo vehicles around 9:45 p.m. near Turk Boulevard and Parker Avenue, one of several areas where traffic backups formed.

The precise cause of the stoppages remains unclear. Waymo has not disclosed whether any collisions or system faults occurred while power was out, and the company did not answer questions about the number of vehicles affected.

Scope and cause of the outage

According to Pacific Gas & Electric, electricity service first dropped at 1:09 p.m. Saturday and peaked roughly two hours later, leaving about 130,000 customers without power. By Sunday morning, roughly 21,000 customers—primarily in the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and parts of downtown—remained offline.

PG&E attributed the disruption to a fire at a local substation that inflicted “significant and extensive” damage. Crews have not been able to offer a firm estimate for full restoration. City officials deployed police officers, firefighters, parking-control staff and neighborhood ambassadors to manage traffic, assist residents and gradually restart public transit, Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a Saturday night update on X.

Tesla says service untouched

During the blackout, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk posted on X that “Tesla Robotaxis were unaffected by the SF power outage.” Tesla, however, does not operate a fully driverless commercial robotaxi network in San Francisco. The company’s local ride-hail option relies on cars running “Full Self-Driving (Supervised),” a driver-assistance package that mandates a licensed human behind the wheel ready to steer or brake.

State regulators, including the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Public Utilities Commission, have not granted Tesla permits to test or deploy completely driverless vehicles on public roads. In states where Tesla holds experimental authorizations, a safety operator is still required inside each vehicle.

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Industry context and public perception

Waymo is among a small group of companies conducting commercial, no-driver services in U.S. cities such as Phoenix, Austin and Los Angeles. The company is viewed as the principal domestic rival to Tesla’s long-term robotaxi ambitions and to Chinese firms such as Baidu-owned Apollo Go.

Although deployments are expanding, skepticism remains high. An American Automobile Association survey released earlier this year found that roughly two-thirds of U.S. drivers feel apprehensive about fully autonomous vehicles. Bryan Reimer, a research scientist at the MIT AgeLab and co-author of “How to Make AI Useful,” said the San Francisco incident underscores the need for mixed human-machine oversight. Power outages, he noted, are foreseeable events that automated-vehicle developers must plan for. Reimer added that state and municipal regulators may eventually need to cap the density of highly automated cars on public roads and hold operators accountable for gridlock or safety issues during infrastructure failures.

Uncertain timeline for resumption

Waymo has not indicated when its San Francisco service will be reactivated. The company said it will issue further updates once power is stabilized and operational assessments are complete. Neither Tesla nor the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration responded to requests for comment on whether any driver-assistance features malfunctioned during the outage.

The blackout-induced pause is the latest stress test for autonomous-vehicle programs navigating real-world disruptions that extend beyond routine traffic conditions. As electricity restoration efforts continue, local officials and technology developers face renewed scrutiny over how resilient driverless systems are when critical infrastructure falters.

Crédito da imagem: Matt Schoolfield