Waymo is recalling nearly 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix issues where one of its vehicles slowed but didn’t stop at a flooded roadway.
Waymo initiated the recall after one of its robotaxis, which was unoccupied, “encountered an untraversable flooded section of a roadway that has a 40 mph speed limit” on April 20, according to a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration report from last week.
Instead of coming to a full stop, the robotaxi only slowed down and proceeded to drive into the floodwaters. The NHTSA report said it happened in San Antonio, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
The robotaxi was swept away by the flood, although no one was injured.
The recall affects 3,791 vehicles, all of which were made from 2022 until April 20 and use Waymo’s fifth- and sixth-generation automated driving systems, according to the NHTSA report.
After the incident, Waymo implemented flood restrictions, then decided on April 24 to initiate the recall to update its driving systems.
In a statement, Waymo told Fox Weather that “we are working to implement additional software safeguards and have put mitigations in place, including refining our extreme weather operations during periods of intense rain, limiting access to areas where flash flooding might occur.”
Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, also suspended operations in San Antonio for weeks after the incident, the company’s longest-ever shutdown. While the company’s autonomous vehicles are back on the road, they’re still not picking up passengers, according to the Express-News.
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