Waymo recalls thousands of robotaxis after Texas flood incident

BBC News · May 13, 2026 · 377 words · By Laura Cress

open_in_new Read the original article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwy2011dl4xo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss

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10 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

check_circle Corroborated 7

help Insufficient Evidence 2

verified Verified By Reference 1

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“Waymo is recalling thousands of its self-driving cars in the US over a software issue that could allow vehicles to drive into flooded roads.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results (Google News, TechCrunch, and other news outlets) confirm Waymo is recalling thousands of robotaxis due to a software issue regarding flooded roads.

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web search NEUTRAL — Some Waymo self-driving cars recalled over issue that could cause them to drive into floods.Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after software issue leads to flood incident. 19 hours ago.
https://news.google.com/stories/CAAqNggKIjBDQklTSGpvSmMzUnZj…

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web search NEUTRAL — Waymo is recalling software in thousands of its driverless taxis that could allow the vehicles to drive into flooded roadways, according to a letter from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/waymo-recall-robotaxis…

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web search NEUTRAL — Waymo is recalling thousands of robotaxis to fix a software issue that could cause the autonomous vehicles to drive on flooded roads.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-12/waymo-rec…

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“the voluntary recall affects nearly 3,800 robotaxis that use the company's fifth and sixth-generation automated driving systems.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources mention the recall of approximately 3,800 (specifically 3,791) robotaxis. While the specific 'fifth and sixth-generation' detail is not explicitly in the snippets, the quantity and nature of the recall are corroborated across multiple news reports.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Zeekr Intelligent Technology Holding Limited, trading as Zeekr Group (Chinese: 极氪集团), is a Chinese automobile company. It is wholly owned by Geely Automobile Holdings. Zeekr was founded in 2021 as a s…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeekr

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Waymo LLC ( WAY-moh) is an American autonomous driving technology company headquartered in Mountain View, California. It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company. As of March 2026, Wa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Waymo Ojai is a battery electric robotaxi manufactured by Zeekr for Waymo since December 2024 and in service since February 2026.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo_Ojai

+ 3 more evidence sources

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“It follows an incident on 20 April in San Antonio, Texas, where an empty Waymo vehicle entered a flooded road and was swept into a creek.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm a flood incident in San Antonio where a Waymo vehicle was washed off the road/into a creek, triggering the recall.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — On March 1, 2026, a mass shooting occurred at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden on West Sixth Street in downtown Austin, Texas, United States. The perpetrator, 53-year-old naturalized US citizen, Ndiaga D…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Austin_bar_shooting

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Susman Godfrey LLP (formerly known as Susman & McGowan and Susman, Godfrey & McGowan) is an American white-shoe law firm headquartered in Houston, Texas. The firm has additional offices in New York, L…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susman_Godfrey_LLP

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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“The company, which hopes to be operating a robotaxi service in London by September”

CORROBORATED

Three independent web sources (LinkedIn, Carscoops, and another news source) report Waymo's intention to launch a robotaxi service in London by September 2026.

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web search NEUTRAL — Waymo plans to launch paid UK robotaxi service as soon as September. Mapping London streets now using Jaguar I-Pace vehicles with drivers. Cars equipped with radar, lidar, and cameras to capture road …
https://www.carscoops.com/2026/01/waymo-europe-robotaxi-mapp…

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web search NEUTRAL — Driverless car company Waymo has announced its intention to operate a robotaxi service in London this September. Driverless taxis are expected to be enabled in London later this year as the UK governm…
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bbc-news_waymo-the-us-driverl…

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web search NEUTRAL — Waymo, the US-based driverless car company owned by Alphabet, has announced plans to operate a robotaxi service in London as early as September 2026. A pilot service is expected to begin in April, wit…
https://avamerica.org/waymo-aims-to-launch-robotaxi-service-…

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“Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

Wikipedia and multiple web sources explicitly state that Waymo is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., the parent company of Google.

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web search NEUTRAL — It is a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company. As of March 2026[update], Waymo operates public commercial robotaxi services in 10 US metropolitan areas, has 3,000 robotaxis in service, …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo

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web search NEUTRAL — They're very real, and at the forefront of this exciting innovation is Waymo, an autonomous vehicle tech company owned by Alphabet Inc. Headquartered in Mountain View, California, Waymo tech is built …
https://www.slashgear.com/1952963/who-owns-waymo-where-are-t…

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web search NEUTRAL — If a company is a subsidiary, this means it is owned and managed by a parent company. Waymo was established in 2009 as the Google Self-Driving Car Project and, in 2016, was spun off into a separate su…
https://www.startrader.com/knowledge-intermediate/how-to-inv…

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“Waymo's San Antonio service also remains temporarily suspended following the incident”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm that Waymo temporarily suspended its robotaxi operations in San Antonio following the flooding incident.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Ioniq (stylized in all caps) is an automotive sub-brand and a division of Hyundai Motor Company with headquarters in Seoul, South Korea. The sub-brand was established in 2020 as a sub-brand for Hyunda…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ioniq

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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“temporary updates limiting where affected vehicles can drive during extreme weather have already been applied.”

CORROBORATED

TechCrunch and other web search results confirm that Waymo issued a software update to help vehicles avoid flooded roads as part of the recall.

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web search NEUTRAL — Waymo has issued a software update to its fleet of nearly 4,000 vehicles to help them avoid flooded roads as part of a recall announced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on…
https://techcrunch.com/2026/05/12/waymo-issues-recall-to-dea…

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web search NEUTRAL — SAN ANTONIO - Waymo has filed a voluntary software recall with federal regulators after one of its self-driving vehicles entered a flooded lane during extreme weather in San Antonio.
https://cbsaustin.com/news/local/waymo-files-voluntary-softw…

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web search NEUTRAL — According to Waymo, the software will be fixed without interrupting the taxi service, since it can be updated when the vehicles return to a depot for regular maintenance and recharging. Waymo has paus…
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/waymo-recall-robotaxis…

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“Waymo says it now provides more than 500,000 trips per week across multiple US cities including San Francisco, Austin and Miami.”

CORROBORATED

Web search results confirm the 500,000 paid trips per week milestone and mention operations in cities like San Francisco, Austin, and Miami.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — This is a list of current and former companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area, broken down by type of business. Fortune 500 rankings are indicated in parentheses. As of 2020, 38 Fortune 500 compa…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_based_in_the…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — A robotaxi, also known as robot taxi, robo-taxi, self-driving taxi or driverless taxi, is an autonomous car (SAE automation level 4 or 5) operated for a ridesharing company. Consultancy firms predict …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robotaxi

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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“In December 2025, a large power outage in San Francisco led Waymo taxis to stop working around the city, causing significant disruption.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding a power outage in San Francisco in December 2025 causing Waymo disruptions.

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“in April, a mass Apollo Go robotaxi outage in the Chinese city of Wuhan caused at least a hundred self-driving cars to stop mid-traffic.”

INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE

No evidence was found in the provided search results regarding an Apollo Go robotaxi outage in Wuhan, China in April.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.

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Waymo recalls thousands of robotaxis after Texas flood incident

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