After a massive power outage in San Francisco left tens of thousands without electricity and traffic signals dark across the city, Waymo — the self‑driving car unit of Alphabet — has announced a fleet‑wide software update to help its autonomous vehicles better handle similar events in the future.
The blackout, triggered by a fire at a Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) substation, knocked out power to roughly one‑third of the city and disabled traffic lights at major intersections.
Videos and eyewitness accounts showed Waymo’s robotaxis stalling at dark signals and even stopping in intersections, which contributed to traffic congestion during the outage.
What went wrong:
Waymo’s technology is designed to treat non‑functional traffic lights as four‑way stops.
But during the widespread outage, the vehicles encountered thousands of dark signals, causing a surge in system “confirmation checks” — where cars request remote guidance before proceeding.
The volume of these requests overwhelmed the current setup, leading to delays and stalled vehicles.
What Waymo plans to do:
The company says it will roll out software updates across its fleet to give vehicles more contextual awareness in power outages and similar infrastructure failures.
This includes refining how vehicles make decisions without working traffic lights and improving emergency response protocols.
Waymo also intends to enhance coordination with local authorities and first responders in such events.
Waymo temporarily suspended service during the outage for safety reasons and resumed operations once conditions stabilized and vehicles were safely returned or parked.
The incident has drawn attention from regulators and raised questions about how autonomous vehicles perform in real‑world emergency scenarios.
As driverless technology continues to expand in cities around the world, handling infrastructure failures like power outages effectively will be key to maintaining public trust and operational reliability.
