The mayor of San Francisco has called for tighter regulations around self-driving cars after they failed to adapt to traffic and power outages leading to hours of gridlock on the Fourth of July.
The city, which was the first city to legalize self-driving Waymo taxis, experienced traffic chaos over the holiday weekend after traffic caused the driverless vehicles to run out of power and break down in the middle of busy intersections, leading to several more hours of delays for motorists, according to CBS.
Mayor Daniel Lurie wrote to California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin asking for better regulations before more autonomous cars take to the street to prove that they can handle extraordinary conditions.
A copy of the letter obtained by TechCrunch said: “California’s current regulatory framework does not adequately address how autonomous vehicles operate during major incidents, planned or not. California’s challenge now is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions, but also whether they can perform reliably during extraordinary ones.”
This is not the first major Waymo incident recorded in San Francisco. In another incident over the holiday weekend, Waymo passengers filmed their car driving over a lit firework, as reported by Fox News, and in December, a city-wide power outage led to a similar breakdown and heavy traffic situation.
Earlier in 2025, California started to fine the cars for violating traffic laws by imposing costs directly on the manufacturer, as there is no driver to prosecute for traffic violations.
However, Laurie wants there to be additional protocols in place, including a pledge from robotaxis to ensure that their cars can move out of active traffic lanes when they face an issue.
Waymo robotaxis have been in development since 2009. They became available to the public in San Francisco in 2024 and have spread across the U.S since then.
The driverless cars’ expansion has come with increased scrutiny over their safety protocols. Despite the company claiming that Waymo robotaxis are safer than human-driven cars, analysis from CNN found that the taxis have run red lights, driven into traffic and even driven through active crime scenes.
Waymo took nearly 4,000 cars with Waymo’s 5th Generation Automated Driving System off the street in June as part of the company’s recent safety recall. The recall was due to the cars prioritizing certain hazards over others, resulting in cars driving through construction zones on freeways.
Waymo’s June recall published by the U.S. Department of Transportation states: “Under certain circumstances, the AV may enter and drive at speed in freeway construction zones due to inappropriately prioritizing the avoidance of other freeway hazards and/or failing to recognize the construction zone.”
