Waymo suspended services in Atlanta, San Antonio, Dallas, Houston, Austin, and Nashville due to safety concerns. It also suspended freeway services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami due to performance issues. The trigger for these events was an incident in Atlanta: a Waymo vehicle, not carrying passengers, became stranded on a flooded road for about an hour during a rainy day. The vehicle was later rescued. According to Waymo, the intense storm in Atlanta began before the National Weather Service issued an official flood warning; drivers use such warnings as a critical input to avoid flood zones.
Highway closure and construction site problems. Last week, the company announced a software recall for approximately 4.000 vehicles, acknowledging that it had not been able to provide a permanent solution. The released update only introduces restrictive measures for high-risk flooding areas and times; however, the Atlanta example showed that these approaches may be insufficient. Furthermore, highway restrictions stem from difficulties vehicles encounter in construction zones, and a video circulating on social media shows a Waymo vehicle damaging traffic cones.
The problems, as evidenced by statistics and historical data, are not simply a matter of weather conditions and infrastructure. While Waymo released a software update last year to address illegal overtaking of school buses, these violations have continued. The NHTSA sent Waymo a second information request on this matter on May 15th. Furthermore, the NHTSA and NTSB are investigating the incident in Santa Monica where a Waymo vehicle struck a child; Waymo stated that it reduced its speed to approximately 10 km/h at the time of impact and that the child sustained only minor injuries.
These restrictions clash with Waymo's aggressive growth targets. The company currently operates approximately 500.000 paid trips per week and aims to increase this number to 1 million by the end of 2026. The new electric minivan model, Ojai, developed in collaboration with Zeekr, will also be launched in the coming months. The speed advantages offered by highway trips, particularly on airport routes, mean that the restrictions directly impact both the current user experience and the commercial growth strategy.
