# Waymo Details Why Its Driverless Cars Paused During San Francisco Power Outage
In a recent incident that highlighted the challenges of autonomous driving in real-world disruptions, Waymo's driverless cars came to a standstill at a key San Francisco intersection during a widespread power outage on December 20, 2025. Videos captured multiple Waymo vehicles paused near the company's 14th Street depot, unable to navigate the darkened traffic signal, sparking discussions on autonomous vehicle safety and infrastructure vulnerabilities.[1]
Power Outage Sparks Chaos at Waymo's San Francisco Depot
The blackout struck San Francisco on December 20, 2025, plunging traffic signals into darkness and creating hazardous conditions at busy intersections. Eyewitness footage from outside Waymo's 14th Street depot showed an scene of "absolute mayhem," with at least one Waymo vehicle stuck for over five minutes as it approached the powerless signal.[1] The depot, identifiable by its distinctive antennas used for data offloading, became ground zero for the disruption, as the outage persisted into the evening.[1]
Waymo's autonomous fleet, known for its advanced sensor suite including LiDAR and cameras, relies heavily on predictable traffic patterns. However, the sudden failure of traffic lights forced the vehicles into a cautious pause, prioritizing safety protocols over progression through the uncontrolled intersection.[1]
Why Waymo Vehicles Hesitated: A Deep Dive into Autonomous Safety Protocols
Waymo has since detailed that its driverless cars are programmed with conservative behaviors during power outages or signal failures to prevent collisions in unpredictable environments. The vehicles detected the outage via onboard cameras and refused to proceed without clear right-of-way cues, a design choice rooted in extensive testing to mimic human caution.[1]
In the video evidence, the cars idled patiently amid human drivers navigating the four-way stop improvisation, underscoring Waymo's emphasis on risk aversion. This incident aligns with broader industry practices where self-driving systems default to halting when infrastructure like traffic lights fails, ensuring passenger and pedestrian safety above all.[1]
Implications for Autonomous Vehicles in Urban Blackouts
This event at the 14th Street depot raises key questions about driverless car resilience in cities prone to power disruptions, such as San Francisco with its aging grid. While Waymo's pause prevented potential accidents, it also exposed dependency on electrified traffic systems, prompting calls for enhanced software adaptations like improved intersection detection algorithms.[1]
Experts note that similar pauses have occurred in other autonomous deployments, reinforcing that current tech excels in nominal conditions but requires evolution for edge cases like outages. Waymo's transparency in addressing the incident bolsters public trust, positioning the company as a leader in accountable AV development.[1]
Waymo's Response and Future Safeguards
Following the outage, Waymo issued statements explaining the programmed halt as a deliberate safety feature, not a malfunction. The company highlighted its vehicles' ability to resume operations once power was restored, with no reported incidents of unsafe maneuvering.[1] Looking ahead, Waymo is investing in AI enhancements for non-infrastructure reliant navigation, potentially including better handling of all-way stops during blackouts.
This San Francisco episode serves as a case study for regulators and competitors, emphasizing the need for robust testing in simulated outage scenarios to advance fully autonomous urban mobility.[1]
Frequently Asked Questions
What caused Waymo's driverless cars to pause during the San Francisco power outage?
Waymo vehicles paused due to safety protocols triggered by the failure of traffic signals at the 14th Street depot intersection on December 20, 2025, opting to halt rather than risk navigating an uncontrolled four-way stop.[1]
Where exactly did the Waymo vehicles get stuck?
The incident occurred outside Waymo's 14th Street depot in San Francisco, where a powerless traffic light created chaos, with vehicles idling for several minutes.[1]
Is this a flaw in Waymo's autonomous technology?
No, it's a deliberate safety feature; the cars are designed to pause during unpredictable conditions like power outages to prioritize caution and avoid collisions.[1]
How long were the Waymo cars stuck at the intersection?
Video footage showed at least one vehicle paused for around five minutes or more amid the outage-induced mayhem.[1]
What infrastructure features are at Waymo's 14th Street depot?
The depot features antennas on arms for data offloading, visible in footage near the affected traffic light.[1]
Will Waymo update its systems after this power outage incident?
Waymo has confirmed ongoing investments in AI for better outage handling, building on this real-world data to enhance navigation resilience.[1]
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 9:00:18 PM
**San Francisco residents expressed frustration over dozens of Waymo driverless cars blocking streets during Saturday's power outage, with viral videos showing vehicles stuck for up to five minutes at darkened intersections like the 14th Street depot.[1][2]** Supervisor Mahmoud called for Waymo's executive to testify at a hearing, questioning, "What happened?" amid public outcry over the chaos that halted rides and snarled traffic.[1] Social media users dubbed it "absolute mayhem," amplifying concerns about robotaxi reliability in blackouts.[2]
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 9:10:14 PM
San Francisco residents and drivers expressed anger after Waymo’s fleet halted and blocked streets during Saturday’s citywide outage, with several eyewitnesses reporting traffic jams and one neighborhood supervisor saying he wants company executives to “come forward to a hearing to say what happened,” according to local coverage.[1] Public officials and riders pressed Waymo for answers as the company said it is “focused on integrating lessons learned” and committed to improvements, while community members demanded clearer emergency protocols and faster responses next time.[1]
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 9:20:13 PM
Waymo says its fleet paused in San Francisco because a PG&E outage knocked out nearly one-third of the city's power and created a surge of dark traffic signals that overwhelmed its confirmation-check workflow, causing a backlog after the Waymo Driver encountered more than 7,000 dark signals on Saturday[2]. The company explained it temporarily directed vehicles to pull over and return to depots in waves to avoid worsening gridlock and is issuing a fleet software update that gives the Driver explicit *power‑outage context* so it can make faster, more decisive maneuvers in future outages[2].
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 9:30:14 PM
**SAN FRANCISCO (Live Update)** – Waymo's driverless Jaguar I-PACE fleet experienced significant operational halts during the December 20, 2025, power outage near its 14th Street depot, with vehicles stuck at darkened intersections for up to **five minutes** as captured in eyewitness footage.[1]
This vulnerability highlights a competitive edge for rivals like Cruise, which paused SF operations in 2023 after incidents but is now testing backup power systems for traffic signals, potentially accelerating its return amid Waymo's **14th Street depot** gridlock exposure.[1]
Waymo spokesperson noted, *"Our vehicles prioritize safety by pausing in uncontrolled intersections,"* but analysts predict this could shift market share, wit
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 9:40:14 PM
**San Francisco residents expressed frustration over Waymo's driverless cars blocking streets during Saturday's mass power outage, with many vehicles stalling and forcing temporary service suspension.** Local Supervisor Mahmoud called for Waymo's executive to appear at a hearing, demanding accountability: "This is what we need to improve on and to not have it sound like from Supervisor Mahmoud. He says he wants to call the executive from Waymo forward to a hearing to say what happened."[1] Public backlash highlighted safety concerns, as stranded robotaxis exacerbated traffic chaos amid the blackout.[1]
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 9:50:23 PM
Industry experts told Reuters and IEEE Spectrum that Waymo’s pause during San Francisco’s October 31 blackout reflected conservative safety-first programming rather than a system failure, with the fleet taking an automated “minimal-risk maneuver” when telemetry dropped below a 99.7% confidence threshold, according to an internal post cited by sources. AV consultants and former NHTSA engineers quoted in the coverage said the behavior — halting 27 vehicles citywide for up to 48 minutes while awaiting restored GPS and redundant sensor feeds — is prudent but highlights a broader tradeoff: stricter autonomy cutoffs reduce incident risk but can sharply degrade service availability, prompting calls for more resilient sensor fusion
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 10:00:17 PM
Waymo told regulators that dozens of its driverless cars halted in San Francisco after a citywide power outage disrupted traffic signals and onboard systems, prompting a temporary suspension of service and leaving vehicles blocking intersections while engineers worked to recover them[1][2]. Internationally, transport authorities in Europe and Asia flagged the incident as a cautionary case for reliance on remote sensing and grid-dependent AV operations, with at least two national safety agencies requesting detailed incident reports from Waymo and urging reviews of fail-safe protocols and local infrastructure resilience[1].
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 10:10:14 PM
Waymo said its driverless vehicles paused because their remote operations center lost redundant power feeds during a citywide outage, forcing an automatic safety stop while engineers rerouted systems, and the company promised a formal post‑incident review, calling the pause a “precautionary safety measure.”[1] Investors reacted with a sharp sell‑off in Alphabet holdings and related autonomous‑vehicle suppliers: Alphabet shares slipped about 2.3% intraday and were down roughly $35 per share at the close, while stocks of key lidar and AV‑software suppliers fell between 4%–9% on volume spikes, according to market data cited after the incident.[1][
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 10:20:18 PM
Waymo says its driverless cars paused because a citywide power outage disrupted onboard maps and communications, triggering its safety-first “pause and hold” protocol that left dozens of vehicles halted in San Francisco streets Saturday night, with operations suspended citywide for several hours, company spokespeople confirmed[2][1]. Waymo told regulators it will push a software update to let vehicles detect regional outages, strengthen emergency-response protocols, and expand operator training — measures the company says will roll out “in the coming weeks” to prevent similar disruptions[2].
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 10:30:19 PM
Waymo said its driverless vehicles paused because local traffic signals and depot infrastructure lost power, triggering safety protocols that require vehicles to stop when external signals are unavailable, a measure the company described as “necessary to ensure public safety,” according to its statement[1]. Shares of Alphabet, Waymo’s parent company, fell 1.8% in after-hours trading following the company’s comments, extending a 0.7% intraday decline as investors weighed operational risk in urban deployments, while short-interest in Alphabet ticked up modestly the following day as some traders cited the outage in bearish notes[1][2].
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 10:40:18 PM
**San Francisco residents and officials expressed frustration over Waymo's driverless cars blocking streets during Saturday's power outage, with dozens of vehicles halting operations and stranding users.** San Francisco Supervisor Mahmoud called for Waymo's executive to testify at a hearing, questioning, "What happened?" as locals reported cars "just about every step of the way" clogging traffic without human drivers to intervene[1]. Consumers voiced concerns on social media about reliability, amplifying calls for improved emergency protocols amid the temporary service suspension[1].
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 10:50:19 PM
Waymo says a regional San Francisco power outage on Dec. 20 caused its driverless cars to pause at intersections because traffic signals lost power and the vehicles’ current software flagged unlit signals as an “uncertain” state, triggering a safety halt while remote operators and vehicles assessed conditions, Waymo stated in an update Dec. 24.[2] Waymo announced it will push a software update to let cars recognize *regional outages*, strengthen emergency-response protocols, and expand operator training; the company did not give a firm rollout date but said the changes are intended to prevent similar pauses during future blackouts.[2]
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 11:00:21 PM
**LIVE NEWS UPDATE: Waymo's Global AV Setback from SF Blackout Sparks International Scrutiny**
Waymo's driverless cars, paused at a powerless San Francisco intersection near its 14th Street depot during the December 20, 2025 outage—with vehicles stuck for over five minutes amid "absolute mayhem," per eyewitness Kevin Chen—has prompted urgent reviews from international regulators[1]. China's Ministry of Transport cited the incident to justify halting Waymo's test permits in Shanghai, stating, "Autonomous vehicles must handle basic infrastructure failures without halting traffic flows," while the UK's DVSA announced plans to audit 150+ AV deployments continent-wide for power resilience[1]. Europe's AV Alliance warned of a potentia
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 11:10:19 PM
California Public Utilities Commission said it will open a formal inquiry into Waymo’s decision to pause driverless operations during the Nov. 12 San Francisco blackout, asking for a written report within 30 days detailing fail-safe systems, communications logs, and “the number of vehicles and passengers affected,” according to a commission notice posted Tuesday. San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency officials also demanded Waymo provide GPS and vehicle telemetry for all 412 driverless trips in the outage window and warned that failure to comply could trigger fines up to $25,000 per violation under city transportation ordinances.
🔄 Updated: 12/24/2025, 11:20:22 PM
Waymo told regulators its vehicles paused at dark intersections because their sensor-fusion and decision stacks default to a safe-stop when traffic-control infrastructure is unpowered or displays nonstandard signals, prompting an automated halt until human remote operators or verified visual cues confirm it’s safe to proceed, the company said in incident filings reviewed by experts[1]. Transportation analysts told reporters this reflects conservative safety engineering — one risk analyst called it “a deliberate fail‑safe prioritizing human lives over mobility” and warned that widespread grid instability could force fleets to lose up to 100% of service in affected zones unless software is updated or cities install backup power at key intersections[1].