Waymo is slowly expanding to four cities as robotaxis continue to flood in

Waymo has now suspended operations in four cities because its robots are struggling to cope with heavy rain and flooded roads, a problem that started earlier. he encouraged the company issuing a reminder last week.

One of Waymo’s robotaxis was spotted driving through a flooded road in Atlanta, Georgia, on Wednesday before shutting down for an hour, according to to local issues. The vehicle was recovered and removed from the scene, Waymo told TechCrunch. Waymo says it has suspended operations in the city, as it did in San Antonio, Texas, while it finds a solution.

“Safety is a priority for Waymo, for our passengers and everyone we share the road with. During yesterday’s heavy rain in Atlanta, a Waymo self-driving car encountered a flooded road and came to a stop,” the company said.

Waymo also suspended operations in Dallas and Houston due to weather in Texas this week, the company confirmed to TechCrunch late Thursday. Growth was the first report and Bloomberg News.

A Waymo spokeswoman said the company also suspended operations in Dallas and Houston as a precaution due to severe weather.

Waymo admitted it had not finished developing a “final plan” to avoid flooded areas when it released its recall program last week. Instead, the company said it sent updates to its fleet that put “restrictions in certain situations and in areas where there is a high risk of encountering a flooded, high-speed roadway,” according to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

But even those precautions weren’t enough to stop Waymo’s robotaxi from entering Atlanta’s flooded streets. Waymo told TechCrunch on Thursday that storms in Atlanta produced so much rain that flooding was occurring before the National Weather Service issued a flood warning, watch, or advisory. The company said the information is part of a broader set of indicators it relies on to keep the vehicles safe.

“NHTSA is aware of this incident, is contacting Waymo, and will take action as appropriate,” a spokesperson for the safety regulator told TechCrunch about the robotaxi that got stuck in Atlanta.

This is not the first time that Waymo has struggled to solve its robotaxis problem. When people began noticing that Waymo’s robotaxis were illegally stopping school buses last year, the company sent out a fix that was supposed to fix the problem — just to keep its fleet going. continue driving school buses illegally.

Waymo’s behavior around school buses is at the center of two active research groups at the company.

Both NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) are looking into the problem. Waymo has already released numerous NHTSA documents, all of which have been redacted to the public. On May 15, NHTSA sent a second letter to Waymo because the company’s initial response “requires (NHTSA) to receive more information and information.”

Another investigation from the NHTSA and the NTSB concerns the January 23rd incident involving a Waymo robotaxi. a child fell in Santa Monica, California. Waymo said its robotaxi braked at about six miles per hour before hitting the child and causing minor injuries.

This article has been updated with information about Waymo’s use of National Weather Service information, and includes new service stops in Houston and Dallas.