Waymo Suspends Service in Six Cities After Cars Drove Into Flooded Roads
The temporary shutdowns came after videos emerged showing two Waymo cars stopped on swamped streets in Atlanta on Wednesday.
The temporary shutdowns came after videos emerged showing two Waymo cars stopped on swamped streets in Atlanta on Wednesday.
Waymo Pauses Service in 6 Cities After Cars Drive Into Floodwaters
Waymo said it was pausing its driverless taxi service in six cities in Texas, Tennessee and Georgia amid concerns that its cars might drive into flooded roads.
The temporary shutdowns came after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a letter this month that Waymo was fixing software in thousands of its taxis that could allow the cars to drive into standing water on some roads.
Waymo said it had decided to repair the software last month after an unoccupied taxi entered a flooded road during a heavy downpour in San Antonio on April 20. Earlier this month, Waymo said the software could be fixed without interrupting taxi service.
But on Friday, Waymo, which is owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, confirmed that it was temporarily suspending taxi service in Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Nashville and Atlanta. There have been strong storms in those cities, some leading to flash floods.
The company took the action after videos emerged showing that two Waymo cars had stopped on flooded roads in Atlanta on Wednesday, when the city received 2 to 3.5 inches of rain, inundating some streets and the Downtown Connector, a highway in the city core.
Waymo said that while its cars can drive in heavy rain, it wanted to improve service. It said it expected to resume taxi operations in the six affected cities soon.
