A massive power outage in San Francisco has disrupted self-driving vehicle traffic. Waymo self-driving vehicles have been spotted on city streets, stopped at intersections with their emergency lights on. The outages were caused by a sudden power outage at traffic lights , caused by a fire at a PG&E substation.
Due to the incident, Waymo suspended its self-driving taxi service in the Bay Area. Waymo representatives said they are in close coordination with city officials and plan to resume service as soon as possible . However, they did not specify the reasons why the vehicles were unable to resume service.
A substation fire caused power outages for approximately 130,000 residents. By Sunday morning, power had been restored, while work continued in Richmond, Golden Gate, and parts of downtown San Francisco.
The accident highlighted potential vulnerabilities in Waymo’s self-driving system. Waymo’s website states that its vehicles rely on road signs and traffic lights for navigation. The failure of the traffic lights likely prevented the vehicles from determining when it was safe to proceed.
Experts don’t rule out a broader problem: dependence on remote infrastructure. If, for any reason, the data centers that calculate routes and process sensor data were to fail, self-driving cars risk completely losing their bearings and coming to a halt, regardless of road conditions.
Self-driving technologies are advancing rapidly, but any disruption to urban or cloud infrastructure could expose their fragility and remind us that autonomous driving systems remain part of a vulnerable ecosystem.
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