{"id":92461,"date":"2025-12-22T10:36:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/?p=92461"},"modified":"2025-12-22T10:55:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T07:55:42","slug":"waymos-autonomous-vehicles-cause-traffic-jams-amid-power-outage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/waymos-autonomous-vehicles-cause-traffic-jams-amid-power-outage\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo Driverless Cars Stall, Create Traffic Chaos after Power Outage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the evening of December 20th, Waymo suspended its robotaxi operations in San Francisco due to a widespread power outage that left autonomous vehicles stranded on the city&#8217;s streets.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Power out in SF and the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Waymo?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Waymo<\/a>\u2019s are causing a MASSIVE jam in North Beach \ud83e\udd23 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/fuvhprlyma\">pic.twitter.com\/fuvhprlyma<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Iago Maciel (@_iagomaciel) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/_iagomaciel\/status\/2002566437949657260?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Users shared photos and videos of the traffic incidents: groups of vehicles with hazard lights on blocked the roads, disrupting the overall flow.<\/p>\n<p>On December 21st, Waymo resumed its service.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe power outage was a widespread event that led to a transportation collapse throughout San Francisco. Traffic lights were out, and public transport experienced disruptions. We are committed to adapting our technology to the flow during such events,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2025\/12\/21\/waymo-suspends-service-in-san-francisco-as-robotaxis-stall-during-blackout\/\">commented<\/a> a Waymo representative.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The company stated that the autopilot is capable of navigating intersections even when traffic lights are out. However, the scale of Saturday&#8217;s outage resulted in prolonged robotaxi downtime, as the vehicles required significantly more time to analyze the road situation.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Power outage took out the waymos RIP <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/DPte8oOGku\">pic.twitter.com\/DPte8oOGku<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Vincent Woo (@fulligin) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/fulligin\/status\/2002554277743714393?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The blackout was caused by a fire at a Pacific Gas &#038; Electric substation. The incident affected around 125,000 households and businesses, with traffic lights out across the city.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sector Development<\/h2>\n<p>The robotaxi sector is reportedly <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/waymos-robotaxi-business-nears-break-even\">approaching<\/a> self-sufficiency. According to Baidu CEO Robin Li, increasing user trust is facilitating faster legalization of autonomous vehicles.<\/p>\n<p>The geography of autonomous transport is actively expanding:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>In November, Waymo announced the launch of its service in Minneapolis, Tampa, and New Orleans;<\/li>\n<li>In December, Tesla deployed taxis without driver-operators (currently without passengers). In June, the company conducted tests in Austin, where users highly rated the speed and parking capabilities;<\/li>\n<li>Uber, in collaboration with China&#8217;s WeRide, <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/uber-introduces-driverless-rides-in-abu-dhabi\">launched<\/a> vehicles in Abu Dhabi. This marks the company&#8217;s fourth region and the first appearance of robotaxis in the Middle East;<\/li>\n<li>The KIRA project in Germany has been <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/germany-trials-autonomous-public-transport\">conducting<\/a> public trials since May. Tests cover the Rhine-Main region, including Frankfurt, Mainz, and Wiesbaden.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Back in July 2025, flying taxi manufacturer Joby Aviation <a href=\"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/news\/dubai-trials-flying-taxi-service\">delivered<\/a> its first aircraft to the UAE and completed pilot tests. The service launch in the region is expected in 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Waymo suspended its robotaxi operations in San Francisco due to a widespread power outage that left autonomous vehicles stranded on the city&#8217;s streets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":92462,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"select":"1","news_style_id":"1","cryptorium_level":"","_short_excerpt_text":"Waymo halted robotaxi service in SF due to a power outage, leaving vehicles stranded.","creation_source":"","_metatest_mainpost_news_update":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[438,652],"class_list":["post-92461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-robots"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"views":"210","promo_type":"1","layout_type":"1","short_excerpt":"Waymo halted robotaxi service in SF due to a power outage, leaving vehicles stranded.","is_update":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92461"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92476,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92461\/revisions\/92476"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}