Here's Why Helpless Waymos Gummed Up SF Traffic
Plus, American ride-hailing companies turn to Chinese robotaxis in the UK
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Helpless Waymos gummed up San Francisco streets during a widespread power outage this past Saturday.
The outage this past weekend, which affected as many as 130,000 customers at its peak according to Pacific Gas and Electric Company, left dozens of Waymo vehicles stranded in city streets, backing up traffic as signals went dark and transit service faltered. This triggered a flood of social media posts showing Waymo robotaxis stopped at intersections where traffic signals had lost power.
Waymo temporarily suspended ride-hailing during the disruption, saying it was prioritizing rider safety and access for emergency responders. Service then resumed Sunday evening, with the company acknowledging the outage caused widespread gridlock across the city. Waymo said it coordinated with San Francisco officials and plans to incorporate lessons from the incident, though it did not explain why vehicles failed to proceed.
So what really happened?
Past incidents suggest Waymos sometimes pause and request remote assistance when encountering abnormal conditions such as unpowered traffic lights. This behavior has been documented and acknowledged before, and is usually resolved by Waymo’s remote safety staff. But the power outage was so complete that even the cell towers had been taken offline. So even though Waymos can drive offline, when dozens of them encountered unpowered traffic lights and attempted to phone home to ask for directions, they couldn’t reach an operator, and remained disabled in place.
The episode adds to ongoing scrutiny of how autonomous fleets perform during large-scale infrastructure disruptions, particularly as Waymo continues expanding service in dense urban environments. This power outage was definitely a very unusual situation. However, Waymos have definitely encountered unpowered traffic lights during blackouts before, and the fact that this behavior has not yet been distilled into the planner even after years of being on the road is unfortunate.
But what about the others?
As the chaos unfolded on the streets, Elon took to X to highlight that Tesla’s Robotaxi service in SF kept on driving just fine. However, that did not turn out to be the full story. While the service did technically continue to run, videos posted to Rednote show Tesla Robotaxis being driven manually by the operator with FSD disengaged. The poster explains that this particular Robotaxi got stuck at the very first unpowered traffic light it encountered, prompting the operator to take over fully to finish the trip.
We haven’t heard very much about the third contender, Zoox, however. It is currently unknown whether the company encountered any trouble during the outage. The company does not currently have many unmanned vehicles on the road in San Francisco.
Tesla quietly scales its California Robotaxi fleet past 1,600 vehicles
Tesla has rapidly expanded its California ride-hailing operation, registering 1,655 vehicles for its Robotaxi service in just a few months, according to the California Public Utilities Commission. That figure is up sharply from just 28 vehicles in August, when the service first launched, alongside 798 registered drivers. However, the numbers reflect vehicles approved for use rather than the active fleet size, and Tesla is not required to continuously update the state on new drivers, meaning the totals for active vehicles and drivers are still unknown. By comparison, Waymo has about 1,955 vehicles registered in California, while Zoox has 229, though both operate fully driverless services, something Tesla does not yet do in the state.
Despite the rapid scaling, Tesla’s service remains limited by regulation. Its CPUC permit allows it to transport employees and some members of the public using human drivers, but it has not applied for the permits required to operate autonomous, driverless rides in California. Some users, including me, have reported long wait times since the Robotaxi service opened more broadly in September, suggesting vehicle availability has struggled to keep up with demand during peak hours. Apparently, Tesla has been recruiting factory workers to help staff the service, while CEO Elon Musk has pointed to Texas as the next frontier, where looser rules allow testing without safety drivers and where Tesla plans a much larger rollout.
Uber and Lyft turn to Baidu as robotaxi trials head to the UK.
The two ride-hailing platforms are both teaming up with Baidu, though not with each other, to bring robotaxi trials to the UK separately, as the global ride-hailing platforms accelerate plans to roll out autonomous services beyond their home markets. Uber said it will begin piloting Baidu’s Apollo Go RT6 robotaxis in London in the first half of 2026, with the aim of launching a commercial service before the end of that year. Lyft confirmed it will also test the same vehicles in the UK next year, pending regulatory approval, with CEO David Risher saying the trials will involve “dozens” of cars.
The UK push comes as Chinese autonomous driving companies continue to expand overseas. Baidu and WeRide are already running and testing robotaxi services in places like Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Switzerland, while Waymo has also begun testing in London. Uber, which shut down its in-house autonomous driving program in 2020, has instead stitched together a global network of partnerships, including live driverless operations with WeRide in Abu Dhabi and plans to reach more than 10 autonomous markets by the end of next year, according to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
Lyft is following a similar asset-light strategy, leaning on partners rather than building its own self-driving stack. Beyond Baidu, ride-hailing companies like Grab are also working with Chinese AV firms such as WeRide and Momenta in Southeast Asia.
Toyota’s driverless luggage tugs have landed at Japan’s busiest airport.
The tugs have begun deploying at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, marking the first real-world use of Level 4 autonomous driving inside a restricted airport area in Japan. Earlier this month, three driverless electric tugs began handling baggage and cargo movements for domestic flights, with three more scheduled to enter service by the end of March 2026. The project is being led by Toyota Industries Corporation in partnership with All Nippon Airways (ANA), following several years of trials that began in 2021.
The autonomous tractors are designed to tow cargo dollies between terminals and aircraft along a roughly 1.5 kilometer route that includes active traffic signals and busy service lanes. Using onboard localization, obstacle detection, and multiple sensors including lidar, the vehicles operate without a human driver, and are monitored via a remote system during more complex situations. In autonomous mode, the tractors are limited to 9mph (15kmh) and can tow up to 13 tons, with higher limits available when operated manually.
Alongside the vehicles, Toyota and ANA are rolling out a new fleet management system that coordinates dispatching, lane assignments, and traffic light integration across the airfield. It is currently unknown which system Toyota is integrating into the luggage tugs, or if this was an in-house effort. Toyota is known to currently be working with Waymo to integrate Waymo’s self-driving technologies into its own vehicles, and Nvidia to develop its own self-driving technology based on Nvidia’s Drive AGX Orin hardware.
Zoox has achieved 1,000,000 driverless miles in its purpose-built robotaxi.
This makes Zoox the first company to have ever done so in a self-designed, purpose-built ride vehicle.
Congratulations to the Zoox team, and good luck on the many more millions of miles ahead.
In Other News…
Alright, that’s it from me… until next week. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with your friend, colleague, or boss. Thank you for reading; Sophia out!