Fourth of July weekend meltdown in San Francisco, viral gridlock in Atlanta add to mounting pattern of safety and accountability concerns
DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Waymo's fleet of driverless vehicles once again became the story instead of the technology, as robotaxis in San Francisco ran out of battery power and stalled in gridlocked streets, at least two vehicles drove directly over fireworks — with one catching fire — and video out of Atlanta showed drivers stuck behind Waymo vehicles that simply would not move at an intersection. Legal expert and traffic safety advocate Amy Witherite, founder of Witherite Law Group, says these high-profile failures reinforce the need for clear accountability, stronger safety standards, and consumer protections when driverless technology doesn't perform as intended.
Amy Witherite, founding attorney of the Witherite Law Group and a nationally recognized advocate for traffic safety accountability, says the holiday weekend is only the latest entry in a growing list of incidents that raise a basic question for regulators and city leaders.
"Every time there's a bad night for Waymo, the company calls it an isolated incident," said Witherite. "At some point, a pattern isn't isolated anymore — it's a track record. Stranded vehicles, cars driving into fireworks, robotaxis that won't clear an intersection — these are the kinds of failures that would ground a fleet of buses or shut down a construction site. The question cities need to be asking isn't whether Waymo apologizes fast enough. It's whether these vehicles have earned the right to keep testing on streets full of pedestrians, cyclists, and families."
A Weekend of Malfunctions
During San Francisco's Fourth of July fireworks celebration, dozens of Waymo vehicles were caught in post-show gridlock near the Golden Gate Bridge and Presidio, with several running out of charge and requiring towing — some residents reported being trapped for up to four hours. Separately, Waymo confirmed that at least two of its vehicles drove over fireworks in the street, with one catching fire on Connecticut Street. San Francisco fire crews responded to more than 500 calls that night. In Atlanta, drivers captured video of themselves stuck behind three Waymo vehicles that stopped and would not proceed through an intersection — the latest in a string of similar viral clips from the city.
"These aren't hypothetical risks," Witherite said. "They're happening in real time, on real streets, in front of real families trying to get home from a holiday celebration."
A Pattern, Not an Anomaly
Witherite has previously raised concerns about Waymo's safety claims following the May 2025 gas explosion at The Clyde apartment complex in Dallas, where a Waymo vehicle blocked a responding Dallas County deputy constable, and has pointed to independent experts — including researchers at the University of Michigan and George Mason University, as well as policy analysts at the Brookings Institution — who have questioned whether autonomous vehicle safety statistics tell the full story.
"Waymo wants the public to trust its numbers," Witherite said. "But numbers don't explain a car driving into a lit firework, or a fleet of robotaxis abandoned in the middle of the street because nobody thought through what happens when thousands of people leave a fireworks show at the same time. Real-world testing has real-world consequences, and right now, the public is absorbing that risk without much say in the matter."
Waymo's Excuses, By the Numbers
Witherite noted that Waymo's public explanations for the holiday weekend's failures follow a familiar script — one she says has become a long-running list of excuses rather than accountability. Asked about the San Francisco meltdown, a Waymo spokesperson blamed “extreme traffic congestion in northern San Francisco,” a “huge influx of travelers,” and “unplanned road closures” around the fireworks show, adding that the company is “always evaluating ways to strengthen Waymo's resilience in major traffic disruptions.”
"That's the same explanation this company always gives — blame the crowd, blame the road closure, blame the holiday," Witherite said. "Add it to the list: the power outage excuse, the confused-intersection excuse, the traffic-congestion excuse. At some point, the common denominator isn't the weather or the calendar. It's the technology. A safety record built on excuses is not a safety record."
Witherite is calling on city officials, state regulators, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to take a harder look at whether autonomous vehicle testing programs — particularly in dense, high-event environments — should continue without stronger oversight, clearer accountability, and enforceable safety benchmarks.
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