The autonomous taxi service, Waymo, recalled software for its entire fleet following an incident in San Antonio, Texas, according to a recall report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Waymo, the autonomous self-driving car brand, released its first rider-only Waymo One service in Arizona in 2020. The rideshare service now operates in 11 metropolitan cities across the United States. Across these 11 cities, Waymo has accumulated over 20 million total trips since its release as of April 2026.
On April 20, a Waymo self-driving car in San Antonio, Texas, drove into an impassable lane during a severe weather event. According to Palo Alto Online, Waymo voluntarily filed a recall notice ten days after the accident with federal regulators to report that the vehicles are unable to process untraversable lanes with high-speed roadways.
“On higher speed roadways, the Waymo AV may slow but not stop in response to detecting a potentially untraversable flooded lane,” the NHTSA report said.
This incident is one of many that have incited questions regarding the safety of autonomous vehicles. In January, a child was hit by a self-driving vehicle outside their elementary school in Santa Monica and sustained mild injuries. In October 2025, Kitkat, a beloved neighborhood cat in San Francisco, was hit and passed away despite the efforts of an emergency vet.
Waymo is continuing to revise and enhance its vehicles, with a current 13x reduction rate in dangerous crashes in cities where they are being used, according to its official website.
According to the Los Angeles Times, all affected Waymo vehicles were given a software update with weather-related advances following the San Antonio incident, as well as other safeguards, including limited usage in areas where flash flooding may occur and improving extreme weather operations.
“Waymo modified the approved scope of operation of the Waymo ADS to exclude additional operating conditions that present an elevated risk of encountering a flooded, higherspeed roadway…” the NHTSA report said. “Waymo is developing the final remedy for this recall.”
