Express News – Waymo recalls robotaxis after vehicle swept away in San Antonio flood
The company is recalling nearly 3,800 robotaxis after an unoccupied vehicle entered floodwaters on a San Antonio road.
See original article by Richard Brack at Express news
Waymo is recalling thousands of its robotaxis after one of the autonomous vehicles was swept away while operating on a flooded road in San Antonio.
The recall stems from an incident during severe weather on April 20, when an unoccupied Waymo vehicle “encountered an untraversible flooded section of a roadway,” the company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Though the vehicle detected the untraversable road, it continued into floodwaters at reduced speed.
Waymo said the vehicle was unoccupied and that there were no injuries, but the incident prompted the company to review similar scenarios and update its self-driving software. It also suspended operations in San Antonio, a city prone to flooding and where the April 20 incident was the second instance of an unoccupied Waymo vehicle being washed off a road.
The company said Tuesday it had restarted service after its longest-ever shutdown. NHTSA said Waymo also has temporarily narrowed its operating scope to increase weather-related restrictions and updated its maps while it works on a permanent remedy.
“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,” Waymo said in a statement.
The recall affects nearly 3,800 vehicles equipped with the company’s fifth- and sixth-generation automated-driving system, according to documents posted to the safety regulator’s website. The Alphabet Inc.-owned robotaxi business said it has placed additional constraints on the system’s operations while it works on a permanent fix.
The April 20 incident occurred when the robotaxi was overtaken by Salado Creek floodwaters. Crews recovered the vehible along the Greenway Trail system near Pletz County Park four days later.
It was the second incident involving Waymos and flooding in a two-week period. On April 4, another unoccupied Waymo had to be pulled from high water at McCullough Avenue and Contour Drive.
See original article by Richard Brack at Express news
