Waymo has updated the software in its fleet of nearly 4,000 vehicles to avoid flooded roads, following a recall announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday. However, the issue isn’t fully resolved, as Waymo is still “developing the final remedy for this recall,” according to NHTSA documents.
The problem is that Waymo’s robotaxis were slowing but not stopping when encountering impassable flooded roads. This affects robotaxis equipped with Waymo’s fifth- and sixth-generation autonomous vehicle systems. The recall applies to 3,791 vehicles, providing insight into Waymo’s current fleet size across around a dozen U.S. cities.
Waymo has had several recalls for its self-driving vehicles. The first was in February 2024 after two robotaxis in Phoenix separately crashed into the same towed vehicle. Subsequent recalls have addressed low-speed crashes with parking gates, telephone poles, and illegal driving around school buses.
Waymo chose to issue a recall in late April after struggles with flooding in central Texas, including an incident where an empty robotaxi was swept away in San Antonio, prompting the company to pause operations in the city. The initial fleet update adds “restrictions at times and in locations where there is an elevated risk of encountering a flooded, higher-speed roadway,” per NHTSA.
In a statement, Waymo said, “We have identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways, and have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to this scenario. 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.”