--- title: "Waymos Just Gave Up When a Blackout Took Down San Francisco’s Traffic Signals" date: "2025-12-22" modified: "2025-12-22" authors: - name: "Adam Ismail" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/adam-ismail" url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/waymos-just-gave-up-when-a-blackout-took-down-san-franciscos-traffic-signals" categories: - "Car Tech" - "News" - "Self-Driving Tech" --- # Waymos Just Gave Up When a Blackout Took Down San Francisco’s Traffic Signals ![Waymo driverless car is not able to detect traffic lights after a major power outage in San Francisco, California, United States on December 20, 2025]() *\Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images\* Over the weekend, San Francisco was hit by a series of blackouts caused by a substation fire that left an estimated 130,000 homes and businesses without power. Nearly two days later, Pacific Gas and Electric reports that some are still without electricity. As a consequence of the event, the city discovered how [Waymo]() self-driving taxis cope when every traffic signal goes down at once: In short, they don't. It didn't take long before individuals on social media began posting footage of stopped Waymos at intersections, with hazard lights blinking. *[Bloomberg]()* interviewed one rider who reported that his cab stopped functioning about a minute from his destination at a dense crossing. After several minutes of waiting and phoning customer support, he simply got out of the vehicle and walked the rest of the way. "The problem was that, at the beginning, there were a lot of people crossing the streets because there were no traffic lights," the rider said. "So I believe the Waymo just didn’t know what to do." https://twitter.com/LauraPowellEsq/status/2002600468565082366?s=20 Waymo temporarily paused service in the city midday Sunday; it's since been resumed. While its vehicles are designed to navigate crossings with downed signals as four-way stops, the Google-affiliated autonomous ride-hailing company told the *[New York Times]()* that "the sheer scale of the outage led to instances where vehicles remained stationary longer than usual to confirm the state of the affected intersections. This contributed to traffic friction during the height of the congestion." Nevertheless, Tesla CEO Elon Musk still [seized the opportunity]() to advertise how his competing cabs were supposedly undeterred by the infrastructure chaos. That would be impressive, if Tesla's Robotaxis didn't still require a human safety monitor behind the wheel at all times. *Got a tip? Email us at tips@thedrive.com* ## Author Adam is a Senior Editor at The Drive, concentrating on curating and developing the site's slate of daily journalism, from initial pitch to final copy edit. When he's not at his desk researching leads and working with writers, he's testing vehicles or reviewing racing games, new and old. He joined The Drive in 2023, following seven years of covering consumer technology and cars. A car lover and gamer since his earliest memories, Adam came to know the automotive world through video games. First it was Daytona USA, Sega Rally, and Ridge Racer; then came Need For Speed, which inspired an encyclopedic knowledge of '90s supercars, and, of course, Gran Turismo. If not for them, he'd assuredly be doing something else right now. Adam is based in the suburbs outside Philly, where there are ample roads for his hot hatch to stretch its legs. In his car, he's probably listening to indie rock, drum and bass, or Yankees baseball. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()