Witherite Law Group's Amy Witherite Says: Time to Put the Brakes on Waymo

Atlanta Flood Incident Latest in Growing String of Failures; Traffic Safety Advocate Calls for National Safety Test Before Expansion Continues

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Less than two weeks after recalling its entire fleet of nearly 3,800 robotaxis for a software defect that allowed vehicles to drive into floodwater, a Waymo autonomous vehicle was stranded in Atlanta flooding on North Avenue requiring Atlanta Fire Rescue to respond to the scene. The incident is the latest in a pattern of failures that traffic safety advocate Amy Witherite, founder of Witherite Law Group, says demands a national response.

Waymo’s entire commercial fleet roughly 3,800 vehicles across all U.S. markets compares with nearly 290 million registered vehicles on American roads. Yet that tiny fleet has managed to: drive into floodwater in San Antonio and be swept into a creek; drive past multiple stopped school buses, drive over a fire hose at an active fire scene in Austin; block ambulances during a mass shooting on West Sixth Street in Austin; and now flood a second city despite a recall and promised software fix.

“Waymo’s fleet is a drop in the bucket compared to the cars on America’s roads and it keeps failing at ordinary conditions like rain, emergency scenes, and hand signals from police officers. Every driver in America has to pass a test before they get behind the wheel. Waymo should have to meet the same standard before expanding into the next city.”
— Amy Witherite, Traffic Safety Advocate and Founder, Witherite Law Group

The San Antonio flooding incidents in April triggered a voluntary recall filed with NHTSA covering all 3,791 fifth- and sixth-generation Waymo vehicles. The company acknowledged its software would allow vehicles to slow but then proceed into standing water on higher-speed roadways. One vehicle was swept into Salado Creek. San Antonio service was suspended. Now, one week after the recall was announced and a software patch deployed, another Waymo is stuck in floodwater in Atlanta.

Austin’s Public Safety Committee heard last month that Waymo vehicles blocked ambulance corridors during a mass casualty shooting, cannot reliably follow first responder hand signals, have driven over fire hoses, and generate emergency 911 calls when unresponsive passengers fail to exit each triggering a minimum four-vehicle, eleven-responder cardiac arrest response.

“The public is being asked to share roads with technology that is clearly not ready for rain, emergencies, or the unpredictable reality of city streets. That is unacceptable. No other vehicle gets that pass.”
— Amy Witherite

Witherite is calling on federal regulators and Congress to require autonomous vehicle companies to demonstrate safe performance across all common road conditions — including adverse weather and emergency response scenarios — before permitting expansion into additional markets.

About Amy Witherite

Amy Witherite is a nationally recognized traffic safety expert, attorney, and advocate and founder of Witherite Law Group. She closely monitors autonomous vehicle policy developments across Texas and the nation.