"While the failure of the utility infrastructure was significant, we are committed to ensuring our technology adjusts to traffic flow during such events," she added.
"Yesterday's power outage was a widespread event that caused gridlock across San Francisco, with non-functioning traffic signals and transit disruptions," a Waymo spokesperson, Suzanne Philion, told CNBC in an e-mailed statement Sunday afternoon.
Alphabet -owned Waymo has resumed its driverless ride-hail service in the San Francisco Bay Area after a temporary pause during blackouts that plagued the city beginning on Saturday afternoon.
"They were just stopping in the middle of the street," Schoolfield said.
San Francisco resident Matt Schoolfield said he saw at least three Waymo autonomous vehicles stopped in traffic Saturday around 9:45 p.m. local time, including one he photographed on Turk Boulevard near Parker Avenue.
As power outages spread yesterday, videos shared on social media appeared to show multiple Waymo vehicles stalled in traffic in different parts of the city.
A Waymo vehicle stuck between Parker and Beaumont, on the north side of Turk Boulevard in San Francisco.
The power outages began around 1:09 p.m. Saturday and peaked roughly two hours later, affecting about 130,000 customers, according to Pacific Gas and Electric. As of Sunday morning, about 21,000 customers remained without power, mainly in the Presidio, the Richmond District, Golden Gate Park and parts of downtown San Francisco.
PG&E said the outage was caused by a fire at a substation that resulted in "significant and extensive" damage, and said it could not yet provide a precise timeline for full restoration.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a 9 p.m. update on X that police officers, fire crews, parking control officers and city ambassadors were deployed across affected neighborhoods.
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