Waymos in San Francisco caused chaos during mass power outage
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A Waymo vehicle sits idling at an intersection with no operating traffic lights due to power outages, in San Francisco, Saturday, Dec. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) Pacific Gas & Electric crews walk around the substation building at 8th and Mission streets, in San Francisco, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, as they work to repair infrastructure that failed and caused massive power outages across the city.
AI Summary
Main Idea: Waymo’s self-driving cars got stuck in San Francisco during a large power outage, causing traffic problems and forcing the company to pause service.
Key Points:
- Traffic lights went out across parts of San Francisco after a fire at a power substation caused a major outage.
- Some Waymo cars stopped in intersections or blocked streets, and other drivers had to swerve around them.
- Waymo said its cars are built to treat broken lights like four-way stops, but the scale of the outage created unusual conditions.
- Critics said the episode showed Waymo still needs better backup plans for large emergencies and citywide outages.
Impact on the People
Negative Impact
Waymo robotaxis blocking streets during outages can delay workers, passengers, and emergency crews, creating safety and traffic problems for households and businesses.
Positive Impact
The outage may push Waymo and cities to improve backup rules and controls for self-driving cars during blackouts.
How did each entity affect people?
Rate how each entity in this article affected the American people.
- Primary:Waymocompany
Candidate Entities9 candidates · 5 weighted vote min · 70% decision
- WaymocompanyPrimaryEvaluated
Central company whose robotaxis blocked streets and whose service was paused during the outage.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold - California Public Utilities Commissiongovernment agency or bodyMajorAI selected
State regulator that approved Waymo as a commercial service and is part of the oversight context.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold - Pacific Gas and Electric CompanycompanyMajorAI selected
Utility company whose infrastructure failure caused the power outage and whose crews were repairing the damage.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold - CaliforniastateContextCandidate
State-level regulatory setting for Waymo’s approval and the broader autonomous-vehicle policy debate.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold - Carnegie Mellon Universityeducational / research institutionContextCandidate
Institutional affiliation of the quoted safety expert.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold - Philip KoopmanpersonContextCandidate
Self-driving vehicle safety expert quoted assessing the incident and Waymo’s response.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold - Shane GusmanpersonContextCandidate
Director of Teamsters California quoted making the union’s warning.
Include 0 (0%)Ignore 0 (0%)5 to threshold
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