Atlanta flash flooding on Wednesday show say even robot no fit win nature. Some Waymo autonomous taxis wey don become common for Atlanta streets find themselves stranded for flooded road. One of the driverless vehicles even carry an Atlanta Journal-Constitution journalist inside.
Waymo don now pause dia self-driving car service for five US cities. The company say na because of software problem wey make some vehicles enter flooded roads and get stuck. Waymo recently recall thousands of robotaxis after incident for San Antonio, Texas on 20 April. For that one, empty Waymo vehicle enter flooded road and water carry am go creek.
After similar incident for Atlanta, Waymo spokesperson say dem expand temporary pause to five cities – four for Texas plus Atlanta – out of abundance of caution. The company tell Reuters say dem also suspend services on US freeways as dem dey work to improve car performance for construction zones.
Waymo wey hope to operate robotaxi service for London later this year, tell BBC say safety na dia highest priority. Dem say dem dey continue to monitor forecasts, alerts, and live weather conditions, and dem go resume serving riders soon.
The software problem wey fit allow vehicles to slow and then drive into standing water on higher speed roadways, highlight for letter wey National Highway Traffic Safety Administration post on dia website earlier this month. For response, Waymo issue voluntary recall of nearly 3,800 robotaxis wey use fifth and sixth-generation automated driving systems. Dem say dem dey work on additional software safeguards.
On Wednesday, unoccupied Waymo robotaxi report say e trap for flood water on road for Atlanta. Meanwhile, the company don temporarily pull service on freeways for San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami. Dem say dem dey evaluate car performance for construction zones. For statement wey dem give Reuters, dem expect to resume those routes soon.
Waymo wey Google parent company Alphabet own, say dem dey provide more than 500,000 trips per week across multiple US cities including San Francisco, Austin and Miami. Over the past year, several incidents with driverless cars don raise concerns about safety. For December 2025, large power outage for San Francisco make Waymo taxis stop working around city, cause significant disruption. And for April, mass Apollo Go robotaxi outage for Chinese city of Wuhan cause at least hundred self-driving cars to stop mid-traffic.
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