On the Dash:
- Waymo paused Atlanta robotaxi service after a driverless vehicle drove into floodwaters Wednesday.
- The suspension marks the second city impacted, following a similar incident in San Antonio.
- Waymo recalled nearly 4,000 vehicles last week over a software flaw tied to flooded roads.
Waymo has temporarily halted its Atlanta robotaxi service after one of its driverless vehicles drove into a flooded road during severe storms on Wednesday. No one was in the vehicle at the time of the incident.
In a statement provided to the media, the company said: “Safety is Waymo’s top priority, both for our riders and everyone we share the road with. During a period of heavy rain in Atlanta, an unoccupied Waymo vehicle encountered a flooded road and stopped. The vehicle has been recovered and removed from the scene.”
Atlanta’s service runs through the Uber app, part of a partnership with the ride-hailing company. Waymo said it will monitor weather and road conditions before resuming service in the city.
Atlanta is now the second city where Waymo has paused operations due to flooding concerns. The company suspended service in San Antonio last month after a driverless vehicle drove into a flooded road and was swept into a creek. Waymo said it has refined its extreme weather operations following the San Antonio incident.
Last week, Waymo recalled 3,791 vehicles to address a software flaw. The issue could cause robotaxis to continue driving even after detecting a potentially dangerous flooded road.
The company said it is still developing additional software updates to improve performance around flooded roads.
The Atlanta and San Antonio incidents add to broader concerns about how driverless vehicles handle unpredictable weather without a human driver’s judgment. Waymo faces two separate National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigations. One involves a January incident in which a robotaxi struck a child near a school in Santa Monica, California. The other was opened after Waymo vehicles repeatedly failed to fully slow or stop for school buses last year.
