Waymo halted its robotaxi service in San Francisco on Saturday evening after a massive power outage left many of its vehicles stuck on city streets.
Many photos and videos Waymo robotaxis were posted on social media parked on roads and intersections where human drivers were either stuck behind them or going around them.
Waymo said on Saturday it had temporarily suspended service in the city due to power outages. It wasn’t until late Sunday afternoon when a Waymo spokesperson told TechCrunch in a statement that the company would resume service.
“Yesterday’s power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock throughout San Francisco, with traffic signals down and transportation disrupted,” the spokesperson said. “Although utility infrastructure failures have been significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adapts to traffic flow during such events.”
The Waymo spokesperson added that the company is “focused on quickly incorporating the lessons learned from this event, and is committed to earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve every day.”
The power outage also knocked out several traffic lights in the city and affected mass transit in Muni, as San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said. Residents are warned to stay off the roads Unless they need to travel.
Waymo said that although its self-driving systems are designed to treat non-functioning traffic signals as a four-way stop, the magnitude of Saturday’s power outage caused some robotaxis to remain stationary for longer than usual as they tried to evaluate intersections. The company also said that the majority of active flights were completed successfully.
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The power outage appears to have been caused by a fire at a gas and electricity substation in the city. SFGate reports About 120,000 PG&E customers were affected by the outages, and while power was restored for the majority of them by late Saturday, 35,000 customers remained without power Sunday morning. PG&E website It also showed that thousands of San Francisco customers were still affected at the time.
A letter from Tiger Global Management leaked earlier this month said Waymo now provides 450,000 robo-taxi rides per week, nearly double the amount the Alphabet-owned company disclosed in the spring.
This post has been updated with Waymo’s statement that service has resumed.
