Waymo said Saturday that it temporarily suspended its self-driving taxi service in San Francisco because of a widespread power outage. Service began resuming Sunday afternoon, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch.
“Yesterday’s power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions,” the spokesperson said. “While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events.”
Videos and photos posted on social media sites showed Waymo robotaxis stalled at roads and intersections as human drivers were either stuck behind them or weaved around them.
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The spokesperson also said that the company is “focused on rapidly integrating the lessons learned from this event, and are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve every day.”
The blackout also took down many of the city’s traffic lights, and affected Muni mass transit —the city’s public transit system. Mayor Daniel Lurie warned residents to stay off the roads unless they needed to travel.
Waymo said that although its self-driving systems are designed to treat non-functioning traffic lights as four-way stops, the scale of Saturday’s blackout caused some robotaxis to remain stationary for longer than normal as they tried to assess the intersections. The company also said that the majority of active trips were completed successfully.
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The blackout appears to have been caused by a fire at a Pacific Gas & Electric substation in the city. According to an SFGate report, around 120,000 PG&E customers were affected by the blackout. While most of them had power restored by late Saturday, 35,000 customers were still without power on Sunday morning. PG&E’s website also showed thousands of San Francisco customers still affected at that time.
Earlier this year, Waymo also suspended its services during anti-ICE protests.
A letter from Tiger Global Management that leaked earlier this month said Waymo is now providing 450,000 robotaxi rides per week, nearly double the amount that the Alphabet-owned company disclosed in the spring. Earlier this month, Waymo also revealed it is planning to raise $15 billion in funding in the new year. The company plans to raise the amount from Alphabet, its parent company, as well as outside investors at a valuation as high as $110 billion, according to a CNBC report that cites persons familiar with the matter.