California is famous for its weather — with good reason. Right now, as we get closer to Christmas, it’s 70 degrees and sunny, and I’ve got my office door wide open to the glorious day. Of course, we have plenty to endure here, too: earthquakes, ridiculous taxes, a corrupt and inefficient one-party state government led by a man (Gov. Gavin Newsom) more interested in pushing a woke agenda than he is about improving the lives of residents, rampant homelessness… You get the idea.

And now, just in time for the holidays, San Franciscans were gifted a massive blackout that left over a hundred thousand people without power and caused Waymo self-driving taxis to literally stop in their tracks in the middle of the street. No bueno:

Power went out in San Francisco yesterday, and all the self-driving Waymo cars didn't know what to do when the street lights went dark. ?

Brought traffic to a halt in many intersections.

Looks like they need to re-read page 34 of the CA Driver's Manual! pic.twitter.com/pXNnijdB4l

— Brad Cooper (@mvhacking) December 21, 2025

Although power has been restored to many customers on Sunday, thousands more still remain without.

San Francisco plunged into darkness when nearly 30 percent of the city was struck by a power outage, which brought vital transportation, such as self-driving cars, to a grinding halt on Saturday night.

Over 130,000 houses and businesses were left in the dark, largely in the northwest part of San Francisco, including the Richmond, Sunset, Presidio, and Golden Gate Park sections, officials said on Saturday. 

As of early Sunday morning, more than 29,000 people were still without power, according to PowerOutageUS.

This does not look fun:

Massive San Francisco power outage leaves 130k in the dark, self-driving cars stalled https://t.co/qszBemhZYz pic.twitter.com/3rYsEEMVJW

— New York Post (@nypost) December 21, 2025

 Waymo had to halt its robot taxi service entirely:

“We have temporarily suspended our ride-hailing services given the broad power outage in San Francisco,” a Waymo spokesperson told the outlet [SF Gate]. “We are focused on keeping our riders safe and ensuring emergency personnel have the clear access they need to do their work.”

The company shut down its operation at around 8 p.m. because the cars were unable to operate without traffic signals. Residents shared footage of the Waymo vehicles parked with their hazards flashing.

READ MORE: Just Another Day in LA: Viral Video Shows Woman Discovering Creepy Surprise in Trunk of Her Waymo

Perils of High Tech: Turns Out You Can't Give a Ticket to a Robot

Frustrated residents unloaded on officials on social media:

“Sitting here in the dark for hours with zero cellular service (I’m in my car) but at least SF has a reparations fund now!” one person wrote on X.

“We’ve been without power for 12+ hours, but it finally came on at 12:30 AM Sunday morning.  It’s grossily unacceptable not to have reliable power in San Francisco. PG&E needs to strengthen SF’s power grid and make it reduntant to prevent blackouts,” another wrote.

“This is a disgrace. Most expensive electric rates in the USA and we can’t get the grid fixed,” another said.

“Ten fricking hours and still no power,” railed a fourth.

Initial investigations show the blackout was likely caused by fire:

Pacific Gas and Electric Co. did not immediately say what caused blackouts to roughly one-third of the utility company’s customers in the city. Fire officials posted on X at about 3:15 p.m. that at least some of the blackouts were caused by a fire that broke out inside a PG&E substation at 8th and Mission streets...

PG&E said in an update Sunday morning that damage from the fire in its substation was "significant and extensive," noting that repairs and restoration would be "complex."

One can assume that executives at both PG&E and Waymo are pretty unhappy with the negative attention they’re receiving as a result of the incident. Let’s hope, for the sake of people who just want to celebrate Christmas, that they get the situation resolved soon.

Editor's Note: Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and the “progressives” are ruining California. 

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