Power outages happen. We've all been through them.
But here's where it gets a little crazy. And concerning.
What Happened in San Francisco
A fire at a power substation knocked out electricity to about 130,000 homes and businesses—roughly a third of San Francisco.
Traffic lights went dark. BART and Muni had to bypass stations. Normal stuff during a blackout.
But here's what made this one different:
Waymo operates about 800-1,000 self-driving robotaxis in San Francisco—more than any other city in the world. That's their biggest fleet. When the traffic lights went dark, many of those cars just... stopped. In the middle of intersections. Blocking roads. Hazard lights blinking.
Groups of two, three, as many as five Waymos were stalled at different corners across the city.
The mayor had to personally call Waymo's CEO and ask them to get the cars off the road. They eventually suspended service, but not before the frozen vehicles contributed to massive traffic jams during an already chaotic situation.
Why This Matters
One expert put it bluntly: "This should have been so obvious. This is not an edge case. California loses power all the time."
Another pointed out the real concern: "In a natural disaster, like an earthquake, flood or fire, hundreds of frozen robotaxis could block emergency responders, putting lives at risk."
A third called it "an operational management failure"—the company didn't have the capability to deal with so many vehicles needing assistance at once.
And here's the thing: This was just 800-1,000 cars.
The Fleet Is Growing
Waymo currently has about 2,500 total vehicles across five cities.
By 2026, analysts expect them to have 3,500+.
And that's just Waymo.
How many Teslas with Autopilot are in your city? How many self-driving features are in YOUR car right now?
(Yeah, yeah... this is what technology looks like now... stay with us.)
This isn't about whether autonomous vehicles are good or bad. It's about what happens when connected systems encounter... reality.
Fiction Becoming Reality
In December 2023, Netflix released "Leave the World Behind" starring Julia Roberts and Mahershala Ali. The movie depicts a mysterious cyberattack that knocks out communications and technology.
One of the most striking scenes shows the family trying to escape on the highway—only to find it blocked by dozens of crashed, empty Tesla Model 3s. All brand new. All with "Full Self-Driving" on the window stickers. All weaponized against the people they were supposed to serve.
Julia Roberts' character barely gets her family out before more Teslas come speeding into the pileup.
Fiction, right?
Except... Elon Musk himself said in 2017: "I think one of the biggest risks for autonomous vehicles is somebody achieving a fleet-wide hack."
And now we've seen what happens when self-driving vehicles lose contact with their support systems during a simple power outage. Not a cyberattack. Not an EMP. Just a fire at a substation.
If you haven't watched "Leave the World Behind," you should. It's not the best prepper movie out there, but it makes you think. It's really about how people react—especially non-preppers—in a crisis.
Ask yourself: who do you want to be? Julia Roberts... or Kevin Bacon?
(Kevin Bacon plays Danny, the prepper. Just saying. 😊)
The Real Lesson
The lesson here isn't "self-driving cars are bad."
The Lesson Is:
Every system we depend on has a failure mode.
Power grids. Cell networks. GPS. The internet. Traffic signals. Remote operations centers that guide autonomous vehicles.
How many hospital computer routine updates become hours or day-long outages because somebody, some IT guy, got the code wrong? We all see this. We've all lived through this.
When we prep, we're not just preparing for the dramatic stuff—the cyberattack, the "Leave the World Behind" scenario. We're preparing for the everyday cascading failures that happen when interconnected systems lose one critical link.
A fire at a substation. A cut fiber optic cable. A software update that goes wrong.
The more automated and connected our lives become, the more important it is to have manual backups. Analog options. The ability to function when the systems we take for granted... don't.
Practical Takeaways
🗺️ Know Your Manual Options
Can you navigate without GPS? Do you have paper maps? (We're trying to teach our kids to drive without GPS. It's like pulling teeth. But necessary.)
🏙️ Understand Your Local Infrastructure
What happens in your city when the power goes out? How do traffic signals work? What transit options exist?
📻 Have a Communication Plan That Doesn't Require Cell Service
Family meeting points. Written instructions. Battery-powered radios.
🚗 Consider Your Own Vehicle Dependence
How much of your car relies on electronics? What's your backup for transportation if roads are blocked?
The Bigger Picture
This incident is a real-world preview of what happens when our technology-dependent systems encounter reality.
800 cars froze. Traffic jams cascaded. The mayor had to personally intervene.
No EMP required. No cyberattack. Just a fire at a substation on a Saturday afternoon.
Now imagine a larger event. An earthquake. A coordinated attack. A Carrington-class solar storm.
The systems we depend on are more interconnected than ever—and more fragile than we'd like to believe. That's not fear-mongering. That's just observation.
Key Takeaway
Every system we depend on has a failure mode. The more automated and connected our lives become, the more important it is to have manual backups and analog options.
800-1,000 autonomous vehicles freezing during a power outage is just a preview of what cascade failure looks like—and that fleet is expected to grow to 3,500+ by 2026.
Preparedness isn't about predicting specific disasters. It's about building resilience for when systems fail. Because they will.
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