Stationary robotaxi seen in San Francisco after major outage

A Waymo-operated car, part of the company’s paid robotaxi service that runs without safety drivers or in-vehicle attendants, was seen stationary as other vehicles passed by on Saturday (December 20) while San Francisco grappled with a major power outage.

The stopped car seen in the video was confirmed as a Waymo-operated vehicle from the logo on the car and the sensor, which matched file imagery. Reuters could not verify the reason for the car stopping. However, local media reported robotaxi services stalling in the city following the power outage. 

Reuters was also able to verify the location and date of the video from original file metadata from the source, with the buildings, road layout, stoplights and street signs matching file and satellite imagery of the area. 

The blackout affected about 130,000 residents in the Californian city of around 800,000 people, the city's main utility firm Pacific Gas and Electric Company said.

-Kokkai Ng and Vinaya K