An update on Sunday afternoon confirmed that Waymo’s fleet had resumed operations.
Waymo announced on Saturday the suspension of its services across San Francisco. This decision followed numerous online videos depicting its autonomous vehicles causing significant traffic congestion during a citywide power outage.
Suzanne Philion, a company spokesperson, stated shortly after 7 p.m., “We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco. We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.”
Approximately one third of San Francisco experienced electricity loss throughout Saturday due to rolling blackouts initiated by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., impacting around 125,000 homes and businesses. PG&E indicated at 8:30 p.m. that power restoration was anticipated to begin “later this evening.”
The widespread failure of traffic lights across the city appeared to disorient the driverless cars, causing them to halt. Many individuals, including riders and pedestrians, shared videos showing Waymo vehicles stranded at intersections, leading to long queues of human-driven cars behind them.
Several reports and visual evidence depicted Waymo vehicles lined up consecutively, with traditional vehicles navigating around them.
Observations indicated groups of two, three, and even five Waymo vehicles stalled at various city corners, their red lights blinking in the rain.
