Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis following ‘Texas flood incident’

Waymo has issued a voluntary recall affecting nearly 3,800 robotaxis in the US after a software issue allowed one of its autonomous vehicles to enter a flooded road during severe weather conditions, according to a report by the BBC.

The recall impacts vehicles running Waymo’s fifth and sixth-generation automated driving systems following an incident in San Antonio, Texas in April when an unoccupied vehicle reportedly drove into a flooded roadway before being swept into a creek.

The recall was detailed in a filing published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which stated that the software “may allow the vehicle to slow and then drive into standing water on higher speed roadways”.

Waymo told the BBC that safety remains its “primary priority” and confirmed that additional software safeguards are being developed.

The San Antonio robotaxi service has also been temporarily suspended while the software update is rolled out and Waymo told the BBC public rides would resume once the fix had been fully deployed.

Waymo has expanded its robotaxi operations across US cities including San Francisco, Austin and Miami and now provides over 500,000 paid trips per week. The BBC also reported that Waymo hopes to launch a robotaxi service in London by September.

Earlier this week, the UK government signed a new partnership agreement with autonomous driving company Wayve to speed up the development and deployment of self-driving vehicle technology across the country.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU), announced by the Department for Business and Trade, aims to strengthen collaboration between government and industry on AI-powered autonomous mobility while also supporting the growth of UK-based scale-ups in the sector.

Under the agreement, the government said it will work together with Wayve on research focused on the safe and responsible deployment of automated vehicles, including safety assurance, large-scale simulation and the integration of self-driving systems into production-ready vehicles.