Waymo Suspends Robotaxi Service in Six Cities After Flooding

U.S. cities after its driverless cars drove on flooded roads during storms last week. Footage showed one of the vehicles stopped in water almost up to its headlights in Atlanta, which received several inches of rain. The temporary shutdowns came after videos emerged showing two Waymo cars stopped on swamped streets in Atlanta on Wednesday.

Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company, also said it was pausing service on highways as it improves how the robotaxis navigate construction zones. The retreats showed how the unpredictability of the real world could pose hurdles to the global proliferation of robotaxi services.

A power outage in San Francisco last year caused Waymo cars to halt in the middle of city streets, while at least a hundred Baidu self-driving taxis stopped abruptly mid-traffic in a Chinese city last month.