Waymo’s robotaxis keep driving into floods. The software patch didn’t work. Five cities are now shut down.

TL;DR

Waymo paused service in five US cities after a software recall failed to stop robotaxis driving into floods. Freeway rides are also suspended.

Waymo suspended robotaxi service across five US cities on 21 May after a software patch it pushed to its entire 3,791-vehicle fleet less than two weeks earlier failed to prevent another autonomous vehicle from driving into standing water. An unoccupied Waymo robotaxi got stuck on a flooded street in Midtown Atlanta on Wednesday evening during severe storms, roughly the same failure mode that triggered a recall on 8 May and a service shutdown in San Antonio a month before that.

The company has now paused operations in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, the last of which has been offline since late April. It has also suspended all freeway rides across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami while it works to improve its vehicles’...

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