A Waymo automotive is halted on the street amid an influence outage in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 20, 2025, on this screengrab obtained from a social media video.d
Reuters
Three days after a blackout in San Francisco prompted Waymo to pause its driverless automotive service, the Alphabet-owned firm stated it is updating its fleet so its automobiles are higher ready to reply throughout future outages.
“We have at all times centered on creating the Waymo Driver for the world as it’s, together with when infrastructure fails,” the corporate stated in a weblog put up late Tuesday.
Energy outages started early afternoon on Saturday in San Francisco and peaked roughly two hours later, affecting about 130,000 clients, in keeping with Pacific Gasoline and Electrical. As of Sunday morning, about 21,000 clients remained with out energy. PG&E stated a hearth at a substation resulted in “important and in depth” harm.
With stoplights and site visitors indicators not functioning, the town was hit with widespread gridlock. Movies shared on social media appeared to indicate a number of Waymo automobiles stalled in site visitors in varied neighborhoods.
“We directed our fleet to drag over and park appropriately so we may return automobiles to our depots in waves,” Waymo stated in Tuesday’s weblog put up. “This ensured we didn’t additional add to the congestion or impede emergency automobiles throughout the peak of the restoration effort.”
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie stated in an replace on X Saturday night that law enforcement officials, hearth crews, parking management officers and metropolis ambassadors have been deployed throughout affected neighborhoods.
Waymo stated that it is analyzing the occasion, and is taking three “fast steps.”
The primary includes “fleet-wide updates” to offer automobiles “extra context about regional outages,” so vehicles can take extra decisive actions at intersections. The corporate stated it is also enhancing its “emergency response protocols,” and is coordinating with Mayor Lurie’s group in San Francisco to higher collaborate in emergency preparedness. Lastly, Waymo stated it is updating its first responder coaching “as we uncover learnings from this and different widespread occasions.”
Along with the Bay Space, Waymo at the moment serves paid rides to the general public in and round Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Atlanta and Los Angeles. The corporate not too long ago crossed an estimated 450,000 weekly paid rides, and stated in December it had served 14 million journeys in 2025, placing it on tempo to finish the 12 months at greater than 20 million journeys whole since launching in 2020.
“Backed by 100M+ miles of absolutely autonomous driving expertise and a file of enhancing street security, we’re undaunted by the chance to problem the established order of our roads, and we’re proud to proceed serving San Franciscan residents and guests,” the corporate stated in Tuesday’s weblog.
— CNBC’s Lora Kolodny and Jennifer Elias contributed to this report.
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