Waymo’s driverless robotaxis can handle even complex traffic conditions. However, it turns out that their software struggles to detect the depth of water on flooded roads. Andrej Sokolow/dpaWaymo has suspended its robotaxi service in two US cities after two of its self-driving cars became stuck on flooded roads following heavy rainfall, the Google sister company said.The vehicles will not resume operating in Atlanta, Georgia, and San Antonio, Texas, until road conditions improve.Waymo had tried to minimize the problems last week with a software update for around 3,800 vehicles, but further work is still needed.AdvertisementAdvertisementOn Wednesday, a Waymo robotaxi in Atlanta drove into a flooded section of road without any passengers on board and became stuck in the water.A similar incident had occurred in San Antonio in April. Waymo monitors weather warnings, among other things, to assess road conditions. The Atlanta vehicle became stuck before any weather warning had been issued, the company said.Waymo currently handles around 500,000 passenger rides per month and wants to expand the service to additional cities quickly. The vehicles initially operated in sunny locations such as Phoenix, Arizona and San Francisco, but the expansion in recent years has brought the service to regions with more complex weather conditions.At the same time, Waymo has paused its motorway operations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami. The service on motorways, which only launched at the end of 2025, has been suspended while the company works to improve how its software handles certain types of roadworks. Motorway rides are set to resume soon, the company said.
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