Waymo pauses robotaxi service in San Francisco after blackout

Waymo has paused its robotaxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area after widespread power outages affected the city on December 21, 2025.

Waymo, owned by Alphabet, operates driverless ride-hailing vehicles in several US cities.

The company said its vehicles were impacted by the blackout, and that it is working with city officials to restore service.

Social media posts and local residents reported seeing multiple Waymo vehicles stalled in traffic during the outage.

Power was disrupted by a fire at a substation, leaving about 130,000 customers without electricity at its peak, according to Pacific Gas and Electric.

🔗 Source: CNBC

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Waymo’s minimal risk mode led to stalls and exposed infrastructure reliance

Waymo vehicles enter a minimal risk condition when they face abnormal cases such as dark signals during a blackout. They stop in a safe spot as remote specialists (trained human operators) review vehicle sensor data 1.
Blackouts can knock out cellular service used for fleet coordination and human-in-the-loop assistance (remote human oversight that can provide guidance). That slowdown delays remote guidance and can keep cars paused longer 1.
Human drivers handle dark intersections with eye contact and tacit rules. Autonomous vehicles (AVs) follow programmed defensive driving. If sensor data clashes with high-definition map expectations, confidence drops and the vehicle stops 1.
The blackout made clear that autonomy leans on city systems such as power and cellular connectivity 1.

Outage-aware data can sharpen routing for fleets

Third-party software-as-a-service (SaaS) tools can pull outage alerts and public datasets, for example California’s Power Outages by County API. That data can power proactive rerouting for autonomous or human-driven fleets 2 3.
If systems flag affected intersections before arrival, fleets can steer clear of gridlock that might force Waymo to send field teams to recover vehicles 1.
Ride-hailing companies and logistics providers in cities can add outage-aware routing to existing fleet management platforms. That can cut service interruptions and improve customer communication during infrastructure failures.