EVwire brief: Waymo has paused robotaxi operations in Atlanta, San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston on Thursday, May 21st, over severe weather challenges for its fleet. The move came after one of the company’s robotaxis became stranded in floodwater in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesay, May 20th, during intense rainfall.
According to local reports, the vehicle remained stuck for about an hour before being recovered and removed from the scene. Waymo confirmed the incident in a statement 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.”
Here’s a short video of the Waymo robotaxi in the Atlanta incident.
The company added that it paused service in Dallas and Houston out of an abundance of caution. Services in San Antonio have been paused since late April.
Context:
In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Waymo admitted that it had not yet developed a “final remedy” for its robotaxi fleet’s flooded-road avoidance systems.
Instead, the company deployed temporary software mitigations designed to reduce the likelihood of vehicles encountering flooded higher-speed roads.
Despite those interim safeguards, a Waymo robotaxi still entered a flooded intersection in Atlanta during this week’s storms. This was partly caused by the rapid rise in Atlanta’s floodwaters, which outpaced alerts issued by the National Weather Service, the company stated.
Waymo suspended its services in Dallas and Houston out of an abundance of caution
Safety regulators have issued a comment about the matter. “NHTSA is aware of this incident, is in communication with Waymo, and will take appropriate action if necessary,” a spokesperson for the NHTSA told TechCrunch.
The Atlanta incident came just days after Waymo recalled its entire fleet of 3,791 robotaxis following a flooding-related incident in San Antonio, Texas.
The recall was prompted by an incident last month when an unoccupied Waymo was swept away by floodwaters. The vehicle was recovered four days later.
Here’s our coverage of Waymo’s recall:
Source: TechCrunch
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