Following Saturday's substation fire that caused a widespread San Francisco power outage, PG&E has restored service to about 110,000 of 130,000 affected customers by Sunday morning. Waymo autonomous vehicles continue to face challenges at darkened intersections, keeping Bay Area ride-hailing suspended.
Power crews restored electricity to approximately 110,000 customers overnight, with remaining outages in the Presidio, Richmond District, Golden Gate Park, and parts of downtown. The outage originated from a fire at a PG&E substation, disabling traffic lights and stranding Waymo self-driving taxis, as captured in social media videos showing vehicles halted mid-intersection with hazard lights flashing.
Waymo's Driver system, which "responds to signs and signals, like traffic light colors and temporary stop signs," per the company's website, struggled with the powerless signals. Operations remain paused Bay Area-wide. "We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services... and are hopeful to bring our services back online soon," spokesperson Suzanne Philion said.
The incident highlights autonomous vehicle limitations during infrastructure failures, especially as Tesla's robotaxis reportedly navigated unaffected, per Elon Musk's X post.
This coverage is part of the 'San Francisco Power Outage and Waymo Disruption' series.
