Alphabet-owned Waymo temporarily halted its fully autonomous ride-hailing operations in the San Francisco Bay Area this past Saturday due to a widespread power outage that crippled parts of the city. The disruption, which affected an estimated 130,000 residents at its peak, brought traffic to a standstill in multiple neighborhoods and visibly impacted Waymo’s fleet, with numerous driverless vehicles reportedly stalled in the streets.
A Waymo spokesperson confirmed the service suspension, stating, “We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services in the San Francisco Bay Area due to the widespread power outage. Our teams are working diligently and in close coordination with city officials, and we are hopeful to bring our services back online soon. We appreciate your patience and will provide further updates as soon as they are available.”
The power outages, attributed by Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) to a significant fire at a substation, began around 1:09 p.m. Pacific time on Saturday. While power has been largely restored to most affected areas, some 21,000 customers remained without electricity Sunday morning, primarily in areas such as the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park, and parts of downtown San Francisco. PG&E has not yet provided a precise timeline for full restoration, citing “significant and extensive” damage to the substation.
Videos circulating on social media appeared to show multiple Waymo vehicles immobilized in traffic. One San Francisco resident reported observing at least three Waymo vehicles stopped in the middle of the street on Saturday evening. The city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, acknowledged the disruptions, noting in an update on X that emergency services and city personnel had been deployed to affected neighborhoods and that transit service was gradually resuming. He also specifically mentioned Waymo’s service pause.
In contrast, Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted that “Tesla Robotaxis were unaffected by the SF power outage.” However, it’s crucial to note that Tesla does not currently operate a fully driverless robotaxi service in San Francisco. Tesla’s ride-hailing service utilizes vehicles equipped with its “FSD (Supervised)” advanced driver-assistance system, which still requires a human driver to be present and actively supervise the vehicle. State regulators, including the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Public Utilities Commission, have not granted Tesla permits for commercial, driverless operations in California without a safety driver.
This incident highlights a key differentiator in the burgeoning autonomous vehicle (AV) landscape. Waymo, a leader in fully autonomous ride-hailing, operates under rigorous regulatory frameworks that permit driverless deployment in specific areas. Tesla, while actively developing its robotaxi technology and possessing the ambition to become a major player, is still in a phase where human oversight is mandated for its public-facing ride services. This distinction is significant as both companies, along with international competitors like Baidu’s Apollo Go, vie for dominance in the future of urban mobility.
The temporary suspension of Waymo’s services underscores the technological and infrastructural challenges that still accompany widespread AV deployment. While these vehicles are designed with numerous redundancies, a complete loss of power grid infrastructure presents a critical environmental factor that impacts all technology-dependent systems. The incident also comes at a time when public perception of autonomous vehicles remains a significant consideration. A recent American Automobile Association survey indicated that approximately two-thirds of U.S. drivers express fear regarding AVs, underscoring the need for not only technological reliability but also public trust and robust contingency planning for unforeseen events.
Waymo has not yet indicated when its services will fully resume, nor has it commented on whether any of its vehicles were involved in collisions during the outage. Inquiries to Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for comment were not immediately answered. This is a developing story, and further updates will be provided as information becomes available.
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