SF Grills Waymo Over Robotaxi Failures

The December 20th power outage, caused by a fire at a PG&E substation, knocked out power to about a third of San Francisco and led to nearly 1,600 "stoppage events" for Waymo's robotaxi fleet. This overwhelmed the company's systems and led to significant traffic disruptions. Waymo's vehicles are programmed to treat non-functioning traffic signals as four-way stops but also request a "confirmation check" from a remote human operator to ensure safety. The sheer scale of the outage created a massive spike in these requests, creating a backlog that delayed responses and left cars idling in intersections. During a hearing with the Board of Supervisors' Land Use and Transportation Committee, Supervisor Bilal Mahmood stated that stalled Waymo vehicles disrupted emergency vehicles trying to access the PG&E substation fire. City officials reported difficulty in contacting Waymo during the incident, with contact only being established after the mayor personally called the company. Waymo executives, including public policy manager Michael Magee, apologized during the hearing, admitting, "We did not meet our standards during the outage." The company revealed it has about 70 remote operators on duty at any given time to manage its global fleet. In response to the incident, Waymo is rolling out fleet-wide software updates to provide vehicles with more context during large-scale power outages, allowing them to navigate more decisively. The company also pledged to improve its emergency response protocols and expand engagement with first responders. This event has intensified scrutiny on autonomous vehicles in the city. San Francisco has previously logged dozens of incidents where driverless cars have impeded emergency activities. New state-level regulations are also set to take effect, including a law allowing law enforcement to issue "notices of autonomous vehicle noncompliance" for traffic violations.