San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has reached out to the state regarding standards for autonomous vehicles during emergencies and major events, following incidents involving Waymo vehicles during the Fourth of July celebrations and the city's days-long power outage in 2025. Fourth of July celebrations in San Francisco drew big crowds. It was a rare opportunity to see fireworks launched from the Golden Gate Bridge; but afterwards, echoes of the rockets were drowned out by complaints of traffic jams when people tried to leave. Watch NBC Bay Area News free wherever you are In a letter to the State Secretary of Transportation, Mayor Lurie indicated that before the fireworks began, driverless Waymo vehicles struggled to navigate the extra cars and pedestrians, and by the end of the show autonomous vehicles became immobilized on the roads, blocking key streets and ultimately bringing traffic to a standstill. “That situation, or that kind of special situation, we are going to face those situations in any city, have to be taken into consideration. Companies like Waymo and the rest of the companies that are trying to deploy those kind of autonomous cars, they have to ask themselves what if, it’s not a perfect world,” Professor and Tech Expert at San Jose State Ahmed Banafa said. Banafa says the question being raised is about training and communication for all scenarios. Lurie also mentioned a major power outage in 2025, where Waymo’s became immobilized during traffic signal outages. Lurie indicated the states’ challenge is not just whether autonomous vehicles can operate safely under normal conditions but whether they can perform reliably under extraordinary ones. “I am waiting to see what they are going to do. Are they willing to take a step forward and talk to city hall and meet with the mayor or the mayors of