Videos show Waymo cars stuck at San Francisco intersections during power outage; autonomous ride-hailing company pauses service
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Waymo, the operator of driverless ride-hailing vehicles, was also impacted by the massive power outage in San Francisco.
Numerous people reported on social media seeing the autonomous cars sitting at intersections, apparently confused because the traffic lights were out.
On Saturday night, the Mountain View-based company shared on its app that it has paused service.
Waymo’s app shows that services are currently paused during San Francisco’s mass power outage.
Waymo App
As of 6 p.m. on Sunday, Waymo service has been restored.
Waymo issued a statement to ABC7’s Suzanne Phan, writing:
“We are resuming ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area. Yesterday’s (Saturday) power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions. While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events. Throughout the outage, we closely coordinated with San Francisco city officials. We are 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 outage caused gridlock in parts of the downtown area with traffic lights out at major intersections.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management reminded drivers traffic signals in the affected areas should be treated as four-way stop signs.
RELATED: San Francisco PG&E customers start seeing power restored after massive outage
Thousands of PG&E customers in San Francisco who experienced outages on Saturday are starting to see power slowly restored after hours of no electricity, which affected over 130,000 homes and businesses.
Power was restored Sunday morning to the bulk of the 130,000 homes and businesses in San Francisco impacted by the outage on Saturday.
Officials said they expect power to be fully restored Monday afternoon.
A fire at a PG&E substation has been blamed for some of the blackouts.
“The damage from the fire in our substation was significant and extensive, and the repairs and safe restoration will be complex,” the utility said, referring to the substation at 8th and Mission streets.
The outage remains under investigation.
PG&E said it has mobilized additional engineers and electricians to help with restoration efforts.
“This is a very complex work plan and will require the highest amount of safety focus to ensure safe work actions,” PG&E said.
No injuries have been reported.
The outage, which occurred shortly after 1 p.m. on Saturday, left a large swath of the northern part of the city without power that began to grow in size. At its peak, the outage represented roughly one-third of the utility company’s customers in the city, officials said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
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