Waymo has suspended robotaxi service across five major US cities this week after a vehicle became stranded in Atlanta floodwaters for nearly an hour.
The Alphabet-owned company paused operations in Austin, Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio while it addresses why its self-driving cars keep driving into flooded roads.
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Recent Incidents
The problem first emerged on April 20 in San Antonio, Texas, when a Waymo robotaxi drove onto a submerged road and was swept into a creek.
No one was on board.
That incident prompted Waymo to recall nearly 3,800 autonomous vehicles to improve their handling of flooded conditions.
While working on a fix, another Waymo got stranded in floodwaters after heavy rain in Atlanta earlier this week.
According to 10News, the electric vehicle was stuck for about an hour until the water receded, allowing a human driver to take control.
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Following the Texas incident, Waymo initially paused service in San Antonio.
The suspension now extends to the other four cities, partly due to severe weather sweeping across Texas this week.
Waymo told TechCrunch it uses National Weather Service alerts to prepare vehicles for difficult weather.
However, in the Atlanta case, a storm produced so much rain in such a short period that the robotaxi got stuck before any alert was issued.
As part of the recall issued last week, Waymo said it is rolling out operational restrictions in areas with elevated flood risk on higher-speed roads.
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Work on a final remedy is still underway.
