Waymo suspends robotaxi service after problems on flooded roads.

Waymo has temporarily suspended its robotaxi service in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as in San Antonio, Texas. According to the company, two self-driving vehicles became stuck on flooded streets after heavy rainfall. The service is not expected to resume until road conditions have improved.

On Wednesday, an autonomous vehicle with no passengers in Atlanta drove into a flooded stretch of road and became stuck there. A similar incident had already occurred in April in San Antonio. According to the company, the software had difficulty reliably detecting the depth of water on flooded roadways.

Software update for 3,800 vehicles

Already in the past week, Waymo rolled out a software update for around 3,800 vehicles to mitigate the issue. However, the adjustments were not yet sufficient. According to the company, improvements are still being worked on.

To assess road conditions, Waymo monitors weather warnings among other things. In the case of the incident in Atlanta, however, the vehicle had stalled before a corresponding weather warning had been issued.

Expansion into new markets

Waymo currently conducts around 500,000 passenger rides per month, according to its own statements. Originally the service had launched mainly in sunny regions such as Phoenix, Arizona, and San Francisco. With the gradual expansion into additional cities, however, areas with more complex weather conditions have also been added.