San Francisco power outage brings Waymo self-driving cars to halt, triggers traffic chaos — VIDEO

A power outage in San Francisco disrupted Waymo's operation after a widespread blackout caused the company's self-driving vehicles to stop, leading to traffic issues in several parts of the city. However, no injuries were reported in the incident, and Waymo has yet to announce when its services will be fully restored.

A video surfaced on social media shows autonomous vehicles stopped in roadways as traffic congestion grew around them. It showed that several white Waymo Jaguar I-PACE autonomous cars lined up bumper-to-bumper and were completely motionless.

The vehicles seemed unsure how to move forward, behaving as though they were waiting for traffic lights that were no longer operational. The confusion persisted, with car horns blaring at the stalled cars. City authorities and utility teams are continuing efforts to restore power after a substation fire that knocked out power across wide areas.

The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management said in a post on social media platform X that the outage caused “significant transit disruptions” across the city. Residents were directed to avoid unnecessary travel and treat non-functioning traffic signals as four-way stops to avoid accidents.

PG&E confirmed the power grid had been stabilised

Meanwhile, the news agency Associated Press reported that the outage began early in the afternoon, hitting northern neighbourhoods such as Richmond, Presidio and areas surrounding Golden Gate Park. As the day wore on, the blackout spread, plunging large sections of the city into darkness.

However, PG&E later said the power grid had been stabilised and that no further outages were expected. However, the utility said it could not immediately say when full power would be restored, even as more than 30 per cent of the city was without electricity at one stage.