Waymo’s been riding over some rough terrain in the past month, as it temporarily suspended rider service in six cities and highway rides in all regions where they’re offered.
The first in a succession of issues came at the start of May, when the company issued a software recall for its fleet after a robotaxi drove through a flooded roadway in San Antonio, according to a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“On higher speed roadways, the Waymo AV may slow but not stop in response to detecting a potentially untraversable flooded lane,” the NHTSA report said.
The issue came a few months after the Alphabet-backed company started service in the Texas city in February, and prompted Waymo to pause public rider service while it improved its autonomous driving system, a spokesperson told Business Insider.
Waymo said at the time of the NHTSA report filing on May 11 that a “remedy” was under development.
The problems with flooded terrain have since persisted. On Thursday, Waymo suspended rider service in Atlanta following heavy rain and flash floods. An unoccupied Waymo drove into a flooded road and stopped, according to a Waymo spokesperson.
“The vehicle has been recovered and removed from the scene,” the spokesperson said. The company did not explain what technical issues Waymo’s robotaxi faces on flooded roads.
By Friday, rider service was paused across six cities — Atlanta, Nashville, Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio — due to heavy rain in the regions, a Waymo spokesperson confirmed.
Freeway rides suspended
On top of weather-related disruptions, Waymo temporarily suspended rides on highways to improve performance around construction zones.
“We have temporarily paused freeway operations, as we work to integrate recent technical learnings into our software and expect to resume these routes soon,” Waymo said on Thursday.
The series of recent service constraints follows Waymo’s expansion to six new cities this year, including Miami, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Orlando, and Nashville.
That’s a step-up from Waymo’s expansion pace in recent years. In 2024, Waymo added Los Angeles while deepening its footprint in the San Francisco Bay Area. The next year, Waymo added Austin and Atlanta.
At the same time, growth in California — Waymo’s largest market to date — has slowed as the company deploys resources into other regions with more expansion plans in the pipeline for 2026.
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An analysis by The Driverless Digest showed how monthly gains declined from +14,800 rides a week in January to +2,700 rides a week in March.
“I’m surprised that Waymo is having this many issues around flooding and construction zones, especially at this stage and given how aggressively they’ve expanded over the past year,” Harry Campbell, founder of The Driverless Digest, told Business Insider. “But it’s probably the right move to pause service if performance isn’t where they want it.”
The company said it expects to start commercial rides in Las Vegas, San Diego, and London later this year. In addition, Waymo plans to roll out two new vehicle platforms, the Ojai and the Hyundai Ioniq 5. Both cars will have a reduced sensor suite.