Waymo vows to improve emergency response protocols after San Francisco power outage

· CNA · Join
Waymo driverless taxi drives in lower Manhattan in New York City, U.S., November 26, 2025. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
A Waymo car is halted on the road amid a power outage in San Francisco, California, U.S., December 20, 2025, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video .Video obtained by Reuters/via REUTERS

Read a summary of this article on FAST.
Get bite-sized news via a new
cards interface. Give it a try.
Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FAST
FAST

WASHINGTON, ‌Dec 23 : Alphabet unit Waymo said on Tuesday it will expand first responder engagement, improve its emergency response protocols and roll ‌out updates to allow ‌its vehicles to navigate intersections more decisively, following incidents of stalled Waymo robotaxis after a San Francisco power outage.

Waymo ‍paused service Saturday evening following a fire at a PG&E substation that knocked out power ​to roughly ‌one-third of the city, affecting about 130,000 residents ​and forcing some businesses to close ⁠temporarily.

A California ‌regulator said on Monday ​it was looking into incidents in which Waymo's robotaxis ‍stalled in parts of San ⁠Francisco because of the outage.

(Reporting ​by Kanishka Singh ‌in Washington; Editing ‍by ​Christian Schmollinger)

Source: Reuters

Newsletter

Week in Review

Subscribe to our Chief Editor’s Week in Review

Our chief editor shares analysis and picks of the week's biggest news every Saturday.

Sign up for our newsletters

Get our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inbox

Subscribe here

Get the CNA app

Stay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best stories

Download here

Get WhatsApp alerts

Join our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat app

Join here