Waymo Services Halted After San Francisco Power Outage
Watch & Listen in 60 Seconds
60-Second Summary
San Francisco — Waymo resumed robotaxi service on Sunday after temporarily suspending operations Saturday when a fire at a PG&E substation cut power to roughly 130,000 customers, causing traffic lights to fail and multiple Waymo vehicles to stop at intersections, blocking streets and prompting the company to pause service. Social media videos showed cars halted in intersections with hazard lights blinking; Waymo said most trips in progress ended normally and that vehicles treat non-functioning traffic lights as stop signs. The company said it will integrate lessons from the event and pursue software updates. Based on 6 articles reviewed and supporting research.
About this summary
This 60-second summary was prepared by the JQJO editorial team after reviewing 6 original reports from InsideHook, Spectrum News Bay News 9, Yahoo, WKMG, Free Malaysia Today and CNA.
Timeline of Events
- Early 2025–26 school year: Austin ISD recorded at least 20 stop-arm violations involving Waymo vehicles.
- November 2025: Waymo informed AISD that affected vehicles had been updated.
- Weekend (Dec 2025): A PG&E substation fire caused a widespread San Francisco power outage affecting roughly 130,000 customers.
- Saturday evening: Social media and local reports showed multiple Waymo vehicles stopped at dark intersections; Waymo paused operations.
- Sunday (Dec 22, 2025): Waymo resumed service and stated it would integrate lessons and pursue software changes.
- Articles Published:
- 6
- Right Leaning:
- 0
- Left Leaning:
- 0
- Neutral:
- 6
- Distribution:
- Left 0%, Center 100%, Right 0%
Waymo, regulators, and safety researchers benefited by gaining operational data, public scrutiny, and impetus for targeted software improvements and coordination with city utilities.
San Francisco residents, drivers, pedestrians and Austin students experienced traffic disruptions, safety risks, and reduced trust in some autonomous vehicle behaviors.
After reading and researching latest news.... Waymo paused and resumed service after a PG&E substation fire left 130,000 customers without power; vehicles' programming treated dark signals as stop signs, causing intersections to clog. Austin bus-camera footage also documented at least 20 stop-arm incidents this school year; company reports software updates.
Coverage of Story:
From Left
No left-leaning sources found for this story.
From Center
Waymo Services Halted After San Francisco Power Outage
InsideHook Spectrum News Bay News 9 Yahoo WKMG Free Malaysia Today CNAFrom Right
No right-leaning sources found for this story.
Comments