Waymos Froze, Blocked Traffic During San Francisco Power Outage

Core Insights - Waymo's driverless ride services were significantly impacted by a power outage in San Francisco, causing cars to stop mid-ride and disrupt traffic [1][2] - The outage affected approximately 130,000 customers, leading to store closures and transit disruptions during a peak holiday shopping period [2] - Waymo's service in the Bay Area was paused, impacting at least seven cities, as the company worked to restore operations [5][6] Group 1: Incident Details - The power outage was attributed to a fire in a PG&E substation, with service restoration efforts beginning Saturday evening [4] - By Sunday morning, PG&E had restored service to 110,000 customers, leaving 21,000 still without electricity [4] - A passenger experienced the outage firsthand, noting that the Waymo car continued to move until it reached a busy intersection where it stopped due to non-functioning traffic lights [3] Group 2: Customer Experience - The passenger attempted to contact customer support but abandoned the effort due to long wait times, ultimately choosing to walk home [5] - Waymo's spokesperson indicated that the company was coordinating with city officials to resume services as soon as possible [6] - A competing service, Tesla's robotaxis, reportedly remained unaffected by the power outage, as noted by Tesla's CEO Elon Musk [7]