Waymo will pause operations in several cities.

As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Waymo, owned by Alphabet Inc., is an autonomous ride-hailing service that calls itself the “world’s most experienced driver.” The company, co-led by Tekedra Mawakana, says its technology uses detailed custom maps, real-time sensor data, and AI to determine its position on the road at all times, rather than relying solely on GPS.

 

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Waymo has served more than 20 million riders and completes more than 400,000 rides a week. However, it will pause operations in Atlanta after one of its robotaxis drove through a flooded street, according to TechCrunch. 

“Safety is Waymo’s top priority, both for our riders and everyone we share the road with. During a period of intense rain yesterday in Atlanta, an unoccupied Waymo vehicle encountered a flooded road and stopped,” the company said in a statement, per TechCrunch.

The vehicle has since been recovered from floodwaters. The company did note that, among other signals, it relies on alerts by the National Weather Service to prepare for weather, and that flooding was already occurring in Atlanta before those alerts were issued, TechCrunch reported.

Atlanta now joins other cities exercising caution, including San Antonio. Waymo recalled 3,791 vehicles after driverless cars were washed away in a flood in the city in April, according to the San Antonio report.

“On higher speed roadways, the Waymo [autonomous vehicle] may slow but not stop in response to detecting a potentially untraversable flooded lane,” Waymo said in its filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, per the San Antonio report.

Although it temporarily stopped serving riders in San Antonio, the autonomous vehicles continued to operate, according to Waymo communications manager Chris Bonelli. The company said it made improvements to its vehicle maps and increased “weather-related operational controls.”

“We are working to implement additional software safeguards and have put mitigations in place, including refining our extreme weather operations during periods of intense rain, limiting access to areas where flash flooding might occur,” Waymo said, according to the outlet.

Waymo riders in Dallas and Houston have also been affected by weather-related pauses.