alphabetWaymo, owned by , suspended its driverless ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area after a power outage hit the city Saturday afternoon.
“Due to widespread power outages, we have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area,” a Waymo spokesperson told CNBC. “Our teams are working diligently, working closely with city officials, and we hope to have services back online soon. Thank you for your understanding. We will provide updates as they become available.”
Waymo announces service outage in San Francisco.
Source: Waymo
Amid widespread power outages yesterday, videos shared on social media showed multiple Waymo vehicles stuck in traffic jams in various parts of the city.
San Francisco resident Matt Schoolfield said he saw at least three Waymo self-driving cars stopped in traffic around 9:45 p.m. local time on Saturday, including one he photographed near Arguello Boulevard and Geary Street.
“They just stopped in the middle of the street,” Schoolfield said.
A Waymo vehicle is stuck between Parker and Beaumont on San Francisco’s north side.
Credit: Matt Schoolfield
Pacific Gas & Electric said the outage began around 1:09 p.m. Saturday and peaked about two hours later, affecting about 130,000 customers. As of Sunday morning, about 21,000 customers remained without power, primarily in parts of the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and downtown San Francisco.
PG&E said the power outage was caused by a fire at a power substation and caused “significant and extensive” damage and could not yet provide an exact timeline for full restoration.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said on X’s 9 p.m. update that he has deployed police officers, firefighters, parking enforcement officers and city ambassadors throughout the affected areas as transit services gradually resume. “Waymo also suspended its services,” Lurie said.
In the confusion, tesla “Tesla robotaxis were not affected by the San Francisco power outage,” CEO Elon Musk wrote on X.
Unlike Waymo, Tesla does not operate a driverless robotaxi service in San Francisco.
Tesla’s local ride-hailing service uses vehicles equipped with a premium driver assistance system called FSD (Supervised). This service requires a human driver to be at the wheel at all times.
According to state regulators such as the California Department of Motor Vehicles and the California Public Utilities Commission, Tesla is not licensed to conduct driverless testing or service in the state without a human safety supervisor at the wheel who can steer or brake at any time.
Tesla is racing to become a robotaxi giant, but it doesn’t yet operate a commercial driverless service. Tesla’s Robotaxi app allows users to hail a ride. But the company’s vehicles now have human safety supervisors or drivers on board, even in states where the company has driverless permits.
Waymo, an emerging industry leader in the West, is Tesla’s main competitor in the AV space, along with Chinese companies such as: BaiduOwned Apollo Go.
The chaos surrounding San Francisco’s power outage comes as robotaxi services have become commonplace in other major U.S. cities. Waymo is one of the few companies operating a completely driverless ride-hailing service for the public, even though concerns about self-driving cars remain high.
In a survey conducted earlier this year by the American Automobile Association, nearly two-thirds of American drivers said they fear self-driving cars.
Waymo did not say when service would resume or whether its vehicles were involved in any crashes during the outage.
Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration did not respond to requests for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for the latest information.
— CNBC’s Riya Bhattacharjee contributed reporting.
