Thousands of Waymo robotaxis recalled over risk of entering flooded roads

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.

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.

The BBC has contacted Waymo, which is owned by Google's parent company Alphabet, for comment.

Waymo's San Antonio service also remains temporarily suspended following the incident, though the company said it will resume public rides after the necessary software fix had been rolled out.

According to the NHTSA letter, temporary updates limiting where affected vehicles can drive during extreme weather have already been applied.

Jack Stilgoe, professor of science and technology policy at University College London, told the BBC that all self-driving car systems had limits on when and where they could operate safely.

"We often see these limits only when something goes wrong," he said.

As more autonomous vehicles are deployed, Prof Stilgoe said, more such problems are likely to emerge.

"That isn't to say the technology won't be hugely beneficial," he added.

"But policymakers would prefer to know about these things in advance rather than discovering them in hindsight."

Over the past year several incidents with different driverless car firms have raised concerns over robotaxi safety.