Waymo's Driverless Cars 'Froze' Across San Francisco During City-Wide Blackout

Robotaxis Stall at Dead Intersections, Causing Gridlock

When a power outage knocked out electricity to a third of San Francisco on Saturday, Waymo's fleet of autonomous vehicles seemingly didn't know how to cope. According to videos posted across social media, the driverless cars came to a halt at intersections where traffic lights had gone dark, causing long lines of frustrated human drivers to get stuck behind them.

The incident highlights a critical vulnerability for even the most advanced autonomous systems: their dependence on stable, functioning city infrastructure. While a human driver can navigate a powerless four-way stop through gestures and social cues, Waymo's AI appeared unable to handle the chaotic, unscripted scenario. The vehicles, unable to proceed, effectively became high-tech roadblocks.

The tech blog Boing Boing, which first reported on the social media posts, pointed to the widespread confusion caused by the stalled vehicles. The blackout didn't just turn off the lights; it stress-tested the city's robotic vehicle fleet in a real-world failure scenario, revealing a significant hurdle on the road to fully autonomous smart cities.

PRISM Insight: This incident exposes the 'brittle' nature of current autonomous systems. They excel in predictable environments but can fail when the underlying infrastructure they rely on—like a power grid or traffic signals—disappears. True autonomy requires not just mastering the rules of the road, but navigating the chaos when those rules break down.