Waymo is recalling approximately 3,800 of its robotaxis in the United States to fix a software glitch that could allow the vehicles to drive onto a flooded road, according to a letter posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall affects 3,791 Waymo vehicles equipped with the Alphabet Inc. company’s fifth- and sixth-generation automated-driving system, the documents on the NHTSA website state.
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Last month, an unoccupied robotaxi entered a flooded roadway during a period of heavy rain in San Antonio and was then pulled into an active waterway and swept away, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
The April 20 incident occurred when a robotaxi was overtaken by Salado Creek floodwaters, the newspaper reported. Crews recovered the vehicle four days later along the Greenway Trail system near Pletz County Park.
That was the second incident in San Antonio. On April 4, another unoccupied Waymo had to be pulled from high water at McCullough Avenue and Contour Drive, the Express-News reported.
[ Waymo pauses operations in San Antonio after empty vehicle swept into flooded roadway ]
The glitches caused Waymo to temporarily pause its operations in San Antonio.
Some of the autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were recorded on surveillance cameras driving onto a flooded street and stalling, CNBC reported. The actions forced motorists to navigate around them.
Waymo also drew criticism of its vehicles’ performance during power outages in San Francisco in December, according to CNBC.
The company said in a statement that it “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said in its statement.
CNBC reported that Waymo was working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather conditions.
Waymo also operates in Atlanta; Dallas; Houston; Miami; Los Angeles; Phoenix; Orlando, Florida; and Nashville, Tennessee.