The update is designed to help Waymo’s self-driving software better recognize and respond to large-scale power outages, allowing vehicles to move through dark intersections more decisively without overwhelming the company’s remote human assistance system, which got bogged down during the blackout.

The fix follows a weekend outage that knocked out electricity for nearly a third of San Francisco and disabled traffic signals citywide, triggering gridlock and leaving multiple Waymo vehicles stopped or stationary in the middle of busy streets.

A Waymo robotaxi sits stationary at a darkened San Francisco intersection after a power outage knocked out traffic signals across large parts of the city. AP

The blackout, sparked by a fire at a PG&E substation in the South of Market neighborhood, knocked out traffic signals across large swaths of the city on Saturday afternoon, creating gridlock that exposed limits in Waymo’s autonomous system as multiple vehicles stopped or remained stationary in the middle of busy streets.

Waymo said it proactively paused operations Saturday evening as the outage intensified, with nonfunctioning traffic lights and transit disruptions overwhelming city streets during one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year.

Videos shared on social media showed multiple Waymo vehicles immobilized at intersections and along major corridors as power failed citywide, adding to congestion as police and fire crews were deployed to manually manage traffic in affected neighborhoods.

At the height of the outage, as many as 130,000 households — about 30% of the city — lost electricity, knocking out signals from downtown to the Richmond and Presidio and causing Waymo vehicles to stop at intersections just ahead of peak evening traffic.

The company said it worked with San Francisco officials throughout the blackout, returning vehicles to depots or pulling them safely to the side of the road as emergency crews worked to restore order on streets where traffic lights were completely dark.

Waymo suspended robotaxi service after a weekend blackout disabled traffic lights and left autonomous vehicles stalled at intersections citywide. Anadolu via Getty Images

Waymo resumed service Sunday evening after power was restored to most neighborhoods, though thousands of customers remained without electricity and PG&E crews continued repairs into Monday following what the utility described as “significant and extensive” damage at the substation.

Waymo said its vehicles are designed to treat dark signals as four-way stops, but acknowledged that the scale of the outage led to cars remaining stationary longer than usual as they attempted to confirm intersection conditions amid widespread signal failures.

The pause marked one of the most visible disruptions yet for Waymo in its home market, where the company operates fully driverless ride-hailing at scale and has pitched its technology as capable of handling complex urban conditions without human intervention.

A driverless Waymo vehicle waits at a nonfunctioning traffic signal during a massive power outage that snarled traffic across San Francisco. @brahmsstan via Storyful

Waymo has emerged as the leading commercial robotaxi operator in the US, running fully driverless ride-hailing services in five major cities and logging more than 100 million autonomous miles and over 14 million paid rides as of late 2025.

Its fleet of more than 1,500 vehicles operates at scale in markets including Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin and Atlanta, as the company pushes an aggressive expansion plan targeting more than two dozen additional cities by the end of 2026.

Despite publishing data showing sharply lower crash rates than human drivers, Waymo has faced mounting scrutiny following a series of high-profile incidents, particularly in San Francisco.

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Those include collisions with cyclists and vehicles, animal fatalities, software-related traffic violations and disruptions tied to infrastructure failures.

The latest San Fran incident has intensified concerns among residents and some lawmakers about how autonomous vehicles handle rare but predictable “edge cases,” such as large-scale power outages.

Critics argue those scenarios expose limitations in current technology even as Waymo seeks rapid growth.

The outage exposed limits in Waymo’s autonomous system as vehicles stopped amid widespread infrastructure failures. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The company has said it is reviewing lessons from the outage while continuing to scale its driverless service nationwide.

“We resumed ride-hailing service in the San Francisco Bay Area on Sunday,” a Waymo spokesperson told The Post.

“Saturday’s power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions. While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events.”

The spokesperson added that “throughout the outage, we closely coordinated with San Francisco city officials.”

“We are focused on rapidly integrating the lessons learned from this event, and are committed to earning and maintaining the trust of the communities we serve every day.”

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Restrictions on offline gaming advertisements will come into effect for 35 countries where these promotions violate the local laws.

In its updated policy, Google states that “promotion of offline gambling is prohibited in locations where it is illegal to advertise offline gambling.”

These locations include: Afghanistan, Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bulgaria, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Estonia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Lithuania, Malaysia, the Maldives, Morocco, Northern Ireland, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Yemen.

These changes will come into effect immediately, which suggests Google advertisers must be wary when checking their geographic targets in the coming days and weeks.

This isn’t the first time Google has updated its ad policy in 2025 to become more stringent regarding gambling advertisements.

Google has announced several Gambling Policy updates throughout 2025

Earlier this year, Google announced a major update to its Gambling and Games advertising policy, which was to come into effect from April 11.

That update was introduced to clarify exactly what constitutes gambling-related content, as well as to further improve enforcement methods that prevent potential violations.

With repeated violations of the gambling advertisement policy, permanent bans would come into operation as Google looked to crack down on those failing to comply with the new regulations.

There were further updates regarding the Gambling and Games policy in countries such as Angola, the Philippines and in specific US states, with ads being accepted for online horse racing across states including:  Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, North Carolina, Vermont and Washington.

All of these previous updates were announced in February 2025, and the latest one could be the final policy change of the calendar year.

Featured image: Google / Canva

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