Waymo’s autonomous cars are everywhere lately. Or at least they are in many parts of the US.
Not anymore in four specific places.
Service is paused. Suspended. Put on hold.
Waymo stopped operations in Atlanta, San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. Heavy rain made the decision. One car in Atlanta drove straight into a flooded street. The image circulated online. It looked bad. It probably forced their hand while they figure out a fix.
Safety is Waymo’s top priority both for our riders and everyone we sharethe road with during a period of intense rain yesterday an unoccupied waymo vehicle encountered a flooded road
The car stopped. Eventually. Before the update, supposedly.
Actually no. They pushed a software patch to the fleet of nearly 4000 vehicles just last week. They tried to fix the flood problem. The car that drove into the water went in after the patch landed.
It sat there for an hour. Local news says it was stuck for that long before anyone pulled it out.
Why would an update fail? That is the question nobody wants to answer right now.
Waymo is working on a real solution. Until then, residents of those four southern cities can keep walking or find another ride. No robotaxi today. Maybe tomorrow.
