Waymo recalls 3,791 robotaxis after a vehicle drove into a flooded road

"Waymo is recalling 3,791 robotaxis in the United States after federal regulators identified a software flaw that could send the vehicles into flooded roads at higher speeds, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday . The recall covers vehicles running both the fifth- and sixth-generation Waymo Driver, the Alphabet unit's automated driving system."

"The NHTSA said Waymo has tightened its weather-related operational limits and refreshed its maps as an interim measure while engineers work on a permanent software fix. A full remedy is still under development. The recall traces to an incident on 20 April in San Antonio, when an unoccupied Waymo encountered what the company's NHTSA filing called an "untraversable flooded section of a roadway" and proceeded into the standing water at reduced speed rather than rerouting."

"A Waymo spokesperson said the company had "identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways" and had filed the recall in response. The company added that it was implementing additional safeguards, refining its extreme-weather operations during intense rain, and limiting access to areas where flash flooding might occur."

"By enumerating every affected vehicle, Waymo has effectively published the size of its US fleet for the first time. The 3,791 figure spans deployments in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, San Antonio, and Atlanta. The company had only confirmed crossing the 2,000-vehicle threshold in September 2025, which means the fleet has grown by close to 90% in roughly eight months."

Federal regulators identified a software flaw in Waymo robotaxis that could cause vehicles to enter flooded roads at higher speeds. The recall covers vehicles using the fifth- and sixth-generation Waymo Driver in the United States. Waymo tightened weather-related operational limits and refreshed maps as an interim measure while engineers work on a permanent software remedy. The recall traces to an incident on April 20 in San Antonio involving an unoccupied vehicle that entered standing water at reduced speed rather than rerouting. No injuries were reported. Waymo implemented additional safeguards, refined extreme-weather operations during intense rain, and limited access to areas where flash flooding might occur. The filing also reveals the size of the US fleet as 3,791 vehicles across multiple cities.

Read at TNW | Cars