A blackout that left one-third of San Francisco customers without power – some up to three days – was the first of several outages that plagued PG&E around the holidays. Disabled Waymos blocked streets. The Nutcracker was cancelled. Restaurants and businesses were closed. Customers and politicians are demanding answers and calling for the end of PG&E’s monopoly. We’ll talk about the blackout and what it can tell us about the reliability of our power sources and Waymo’s vulnerabilities, and we’ll hear how it affected you.
San Francisco Blackouts Raise Concerns about PG&E and Robotaxis
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - DECEMBER 20: Waymo driverless car is not able to detect traffic lights after a major power outage in San Francisco, California, United States on December 20, 2025. (Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Guests:
Jeffrey Tumlin, former Director, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
Joe Eskenazi, managing editor and columnist, Mission Local
Brad Templeton, entrepreneur and writer; Templeton formerly worked at Waymo and is the chairman emeritus of the Electronic Frontier Foundation
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