San Francisco Blackout Becomes a Test for Autonomous Driving: Waymo's Hundreds of Driverless Cars Are Stuck on the Streets
On December 20, 2025, a large-scale power outage occurred in San Francisco due to a substation fire, affecting about 130,000 users, with traffic signals failing. Waymo autonomous vehicles, unable to recognize faulty traffic infrastructure, were forced to suspend their driverless services throughout the Bay Area, with hundreds of vehicles stranded or broken down.