RobotRisk Autonomous Systems Incident & Risk Register
RobotRisk / Waymo / 2025-12-20

Waymo Robotaxis Contribute to Gridlock During San Francisco PG&E Power Outage

S1 · 12/20
2025 · Waymo · San Francisco, CA, USA

Record

CompanyWaymo
Categoryav trucking
Typedisruption
Date12/20
2025
Time of daynot documented
LocationSan Francisco, CA, USA
SeverityS1 (near-miss / disclosed vulnerability)
Scale-
Confidencehigh
VerificationYes - adversarially checked against the cited source
SourceSan Francisco Chronicle

What happened

After a PG&E substation fire cut power to roughly a third of San Francisco, Waymo vehicles requested remote confirmation checks at scale as traffic signals went dark, adding to gridlock until city officials ordered the fleet off the road.

Waymo record context

Entries by year and severity

3206412024 S1: 42024 S2: 52024 S3: 312242025 S1: 52025 S2: 4942025 S3: 82025 S4: 12025 S5: 3511252026 S1: 12026 S2: 6182026 S3: 162026 S4: 42026 S5: 264126
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By incident type

By severity

Waymo vs av trucking alternatives

av trucking context

av trucking: entries by year

3496982016 S5: 11162018 S5: 11182019 S5: 11192021 S1: 11212022 S2: 12022 S3: 32022 S5: 15222023 S1: 12023 S2: 12023 S3: 32023 S4: 42023 S5: 211232024 S1: 42024 S2: 92024 S3: 72024 S4: 22024 S5: 426242025 S1: 62025 S2: 5362025 S3: 132025 S4: 42025 S5: 4563252026 S1: 22026 S2: 6582026 S3: 312026 S4: 42026 S5: 369826
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av trucking: failure modes

av trucking: most entries

disruption context

disruption: by category

disruption: by year

disruption: severity profile

Comparable disruption events in av trucking

SevDateCompanyEvent
S22026-03-01WaymoWaymo Robotaxis Block Ambulance During Austin Mass Shooting Response
S12024-09WaymoWaymo Robotaxi Stalls While Passenger Is Harassed in San Francisco
S12024-08-14WaymoWaymo robotaxis' honking disrupts San Francisco neighborhood at night

Other Waymo entries

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