US EditionAnalysis:Waymo's San Francisco Outage Raises Doubts over Robotaxi Readiness During Crises
- On December 20 in San Francisco, a power outage halted Waymo robotaxis, causing traffic chaos as driverless taxis stalled at intersections with hazard lights on.
- After a PG&E substation fire knocked out power to roughly one-third of the city, Waymo's confirmation processes, designed for smaller deployments, faced delays due to a spike in teleoperation confirmation requests.
- With a fleet of more than 2,500 vehicles operating across the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Metro Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta, Waymo said its vehicles successfully traversed more than 7,000 darkened signals on Saturday but faced a spike in confirmation requests.
- The DMV and CPUC confirmed talks with Waymo and others about emergency response and remote-driver standards, while experts Missy Cummings and Philip Koopman urged federal rules and extra permitting for large fleets.
- The incident renewed calls for stricter regulation as rivals including Tesla and Amazon's Zoox expand robotaxi services, while Cruise, General Motors' unit, faced a 2023 permit revocation highlighting deployment challenges and the need for backup remote operations.
23 Articles
23 Articles
Days After Mass Bricking Event, Waymo Fleet Shuts Down Again
Waymo has hit another bump in the road. Just days after its robotaxi fleet crumbled into complete disarray because of a city power outage in San Francisco, the company was forced to suspend all rides again in the Bay Area on Thursday in anticipation of a nasty storm, CNBC reported. Customers received word of the measure via the company’s ride-hailing app. “Service temporarily paused due to National Weather Service flash flood warning,” a notific…
In San Francisco, Christmas remained a dark party for many citizens this year. Hundreds of thousands of people had to live without electricity for days – with unexpected consequences.
Robotaxis went viral in 2025. These maps show where you can ride in 2026.
Self-driving cars like Waymo are getting more exposure on the roads and online as they robotaxi companies expand operations.Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images; Getty Images; Tyler Le/BIThe year 2025 saw the rapid expansion of robotaxi operations.The technology has started to infiltrate mainstream culture, appearing in pop songs.Recordings of robotaxi mishaps are also going viral on social media.Robotaxis make up a tiny fraction of the cars on US…
Die Presse
nachrichten.atNumerous autonomous vehicles blocked traffic after a power failure. Experts now demand proof that operators can also cope with an earthquake scenario.
San Francisco Outage Reveals a Critical Gap in Robotaxi Readiness
A recent power outage in San Francisco caused significant traffic disruptions, with Waymo’s robotaxis stalling at intersections due to non-working traffic signals. The outage, triggered by a fire at a PG&E substation, left about one-third of the city without power on December 20. Waymo paused its operations during the incident and resumed them the next […] The post San Francisco Outage Reveals a Critical Gap in Robotaxi Readiness appeared first …
Coverage Details
Bias Distribution
- 40% of the sources are Center, 40% of the sources lean Right
Factuality
To view factuality data please Upgrade to Premium
