When a sudden and far-reaching power outage swept across San Francisco on Saturday, the city’s residents were confronted with more than the usual inconvenience of darkened homes and unlit streets. Local drivers, in particular, faced a difficult and disorienting landscape as traffic signals ceased to function, intersections became chaotic, and the once-predictable rhythm of urban movement gave way to confusion. In the midst of this disruption, the city’s eagerly tested autonomous vehicles, the Waymo robotaxis, offered an unexpected spectacle of technological vulnerability.
Spectators quickly turned to social media platforms to document the unfolding scene. Multiple clips and photographs captured the eerie sight of several Waymo vehicles standing immobilized in the middle of busy roads, their digital systems evidently paralyzed by the city-wide loss of power. In one particularly widely circulated video posted on X (formerly known as Twitter), no fewer than five driverless cars could be seen clustering awkwardly within a single intersection, obstructing traffic flow and compelling human drivers to weave around them in improvised, cautious maneuvers. These images, while striking, also underscored the delicate interplay between high technology and the unpredictable realities of urban infrastructure.
In response to growing public attention, a spokesperson from Waymo provided a statement to Business Insider explaining that, as a direct consequence of the outage, the company elected to temporarily suspend its autonomous driving services in the affected area. The representative emphasized that Waymo’s teams were working with thoroughness and urgency, maintaining active communication with the city’s officials to ensure safety and the swift resumption of operations. They reaffirmed the company’s commitment to transparency by thanking the public for its understanding and promising regular updates as soon as new information became available.
According to Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), the utility provider responsible for much of the city’s power infrastructure, the blackout had a significant impact, leaving roughly 130,000 customers without electricity on Saturday. The subsequent day, PG&E disclosed in an X post that the cause of the outage had been traced to a fire that inflicted severe and widespread damage upon one of its major substations, an essential hub in the local grid. Although crews had mobilized rapidly to conduct emergency repairs, the company indicated that around 21,000 San Francisco residents still remained without power, with restoration efforts continuing into Sunday.
As residents grappled with the disruption, Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, seized the opportunity to draw a contrast between his company’s technology and that of its competitor. Through a brief yet pointed comment on X, he remarked that Tesla’s own robotaxis had remained fully operational during the blackout. His statement served not only as a promotional message but also as a subtle challenge highlighting the ongoing rivalry between Tesla and Waymo in the burgeoning autonomous ride-hailing industry.
While both companies aim to revolutionize personal and urban mobility through self-driving technology, they approach the challenge from markedly different technical philosophies. Tesla relies primarily on an intricate network of cameras paired with advanced artificial intelligence algorithms trained to interpret visual data in real time. This camera-centric model enables Tesla’s vehicles to navigate complex environments based largely on what their sensors can perceive at the moment. Waymo, in contrast, employs a more diversified sensor array. Its fleets integrate light detection and ranging systems (LiDAR), radar units, cameras, and continuously updated high-definition maps. This multilayered network allows for remarkable precision under stable conditions but can occasionally render the vehicles susceptible to unexpected environmental or infrastructural changes—particularly when digital maps or external network dependencies are interrupted, as occurred during the San Francisco outage.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., initially introduced its autonomous ride-hailing service to the public in 2018, beginning with a limited deployment across the Phoenix metropolitan area. Over the years, the company extended its presence to additional U.S. cities, including Austin and Atlanta, often through collaborative partnerships with major ride-share platforms such as Uber. Yet, despite its progress and growing public visibility, the enterprise has not been immune to adversity. In May, Waymo initiated a recall involving the software systems of over 1,200 vehicles after incidents were reported in which several cars unexpectedly collided with physical obstructions, such as chains or gates, due to misinterpretation of environmental data. More recently, public frustration resurfaced when one of the company’s vehicles accidentally struck and killed a well-known neighborhood cat in San Francisco—a minor yet emotionally charged tragedy that reignited local debates concerning the readiness of autonomous technologies for integration into densely populated cityscapes.
Taken together, the events surrounding the blackout reveal the fragile equilibrium upon which automated transport depends. Although companies like Waymo and Tesla are continually refining their systems to ensure reliability and safety, episodes such as these serve as poignant reminders that even advanced technology remains deeply interlinked with the basic infrastructures of modern society. The San Francisco power outage thus offered more than an interruption—it functioned as a real-world stress test for the evolving relationship between artificial intelligence, urban planning, and human adaptability in the age of automation.
Sourse: https://www.businessinsider.com/waymo-suspends-robotaxi-service-san-francisco-power-outage-tesla-2025-12
