Waymo resumes San Francisco robotaxi service after brief outage

Waymo temporarily suspended its robotaxi service in San Francisco on Thursday after a power outage impacted roughly 7,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers. The company posted a notice to riders indicating that service was paused and that freeway routes were unavailable.

"We are making temporary adjustments to our service while we monitor local conditions. We know riders depend on us, and we will return to normal operations as soon as possible," a Waymo spokesperson said. The pause lasted about one hour, during which Waymo assessed the outage's scope and coordinated with local officials before resuming operations. The incident follows previous disruptions, including stalled Waymo vehicles during a December blackout and a similar event during a Fourth of July fireworks display on the Golden Gate Bridge. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has called for stricter state regulations to address autonomous vehicle operations during major incidents. Waymo confirmed that service has now returned to normal.