Waymo Suspends Robotaxi Service in San Francisco Amid Energy Outage

When an influence outage hit San Francisco on Saturday, native drivers needed to navigate extra than simply darkened roads and inactive stoplights.

Footage shared on social media exhibits some Waymo robotaxis stalled in visitors, clogging roadways and inflicting disruptions. One video on X confirmed at the least 5 Waymos crowding an intersection, forcing human drivers to maneuver round them.

A Waymo spokesperson informed Enterprise Insider that the corporate has suspended its providers within the space due to the facility outage.

“Our groups are working diligently and in shut coordination with metropolis officers, and we’re hopeful to convey our providers again on-line quickly. We respect your persistence and can present additional updates as quickly as they’re obtainable,” the spokesperson mentioned.

The ability outage affected about 130,000 Pacific Fuel & Electrical clients on Saturday. In an X put up on Sunday, the corporate mentioned a fireplace brought on “vital and in depth” injury to its substation. The corporate mentioned crews are working to revive energy for 21,000 San Francisco residents.

On X, Tesla CEO Elon Musk used the incident to advertise his firm’s personal robotaxis. “Tesla Robotaxis had been unaffected by the SF energy outage,” he wrote.

Tesla and Waymo are direct rivals within the autonomous ride-hailing market, however are counting on completely different applied sciences to get them there.

Tesla robotaxis use cameras and AI to seek out their manner round. Waymo makes use of a collection of sunshine sensors, radar, cameras, and detailed maps which can be uploaded and recurrently up to date. Which means sudden modifications to the areas the place a Waymo robotaxi operates may influence its capability to navigate.

Waymo, owned by Alphabet Inc., debuted its autonomous ride-hailing service to the general public in 2018 within the Phoenix metro space.

The corporate has expanded its providers to different cities, together with Austin and Atlanta, by means of a partnership with Uber, however it hasn’t all been easy crusing.

In Could, Waymo recalled the software program for greater than 1,200 vehicles after some collided with “chains or gates.” Extra lately, a Waymo car hit and killed a beloved bodega cat in San Francisco, sparking outrage from residents.