Additional Coverage:
- San Francisco power outage puts 130,000 in the dark, as self-driving car service stops vehicles in the street (foxnews.com)
San Francisco experienced a widespread power outage on Saturday, impacting approximately 130,000 homes and businesses and bringing the city’s self-driving cars to a standstill.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) initially did not disclose the cause of the blackout, which affected roughly one-third of its San Francisco customers. However, the San Francisco Fire Department announced via X (formerly Twitter) around 3:15 p.m. that a fire at a PG&E substation located at 8th and Mission streets was responsible for at least some of the outages.
The power disruption began early Saturday afternoon, darkening areas on the city’s north side, including the Richmond and Presidio neighborhoods and regions surrounding Golden Gate Park, before expanding further.
A notable consequence of the outage was the stalling of autonomous vehicles in city streets. These vehicles, reportedly unable to detect non-functioning traffic lights, contributed to traffic congestion in affected areas.
The San Francisco Department of Emergency Management also used X to alert residents to “significant transit disruptions” citywide. They advised against nonessential travel and reminded drivers to treat dark traffic signals as four-way stops.
In response to the blackout, Waymo temporarily suspended its autonomous ride-hailing service, according to SFGate. As of 11:30 p.m.
Saturday, PG&E reported that power had been restored to about 95,000 customers, with approximately 35,000 still without electricity. Utility crews continued working throughout the night to address the remaining outages.