Waymo suspends robotaxi service in four cities due to flooding issues
Original: Waymo expands pause to four cities as robotaxis keep driving into floods
Why This Matters
Highlights ongoing challenges in autonomous vehicle weather detection and safety systems
Waymo paused autonomous vehicle operations in Atlanta, San Antonio, Dallas and Houston after robotaxis continued driving into flooded roads despite recent software updates, with one vehicle stuck for an hour in Atlanta.
Waymo expanded service suspensions to four cities as its robotaxis struggled with flood detection. An unoccupied Waymo vehicle drove through flooded Atlanta streets Wednesday and remained stuck for an hour before recovery. The company paused Atlanta and San Antonio operations while seeking solutions, and halted Dallas and Houston services due to severe Texas weather forecasts. Despite issuing a software recall last week with updates restricting operations during elevated flood risks, the Atlanta incident occurred because flooding happened before National Weather Service warnings were issued. NHTSA confirmed awareness of the Atlanta incident and ongoing communication with Waymo. This follows previous issues with Waymo vehicles illegally passing school buses, which remains under investigation by both NHTSA and NTSB.