San Francisco blackout strands Waymo robotaxis, forcing service pause

A major blackout has slammed San Francisco and left Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis stuck on streets across the city, forcing Alphabet to pause its driverless ride-hail program in the Bay Area. Pacific Gas and Electric said the blackout started Saturday afternoon and peaked two hours later, hitting about 130,000 customers. As of press time, reportedly 21,000 homes and businesses still had no electricity, mostly in the Presidio, the Richmond District, Golden Gate Park, and parts of downtown. Pacific Gas and Electric said the cause was a fire at a substation that caused “significant and extensive” damage, and it could not give a timeline for full repairs. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a 9 p.m. update on X that police, fire crews, parking control officers, and city ambassadors were sent into affected neighborhoods as transit slowly came back.“Waymo has also paused service,” he said. Elon Musk says Tesla is unaffected...

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/blackout-leaves-waymo-robotaxis-stranded/