The autonomous vehicle company Waymo has temporarily shut down its self-driving car operations in Atlanta and Texas following severe weather that left one of its vehicles trapped in floodwater, raising concerns about more dangerous storms expected during the holiday weekend.
The National Weather Service has forecast severe thunderstorms with large hail and strong winds for Friday across Texas and other areas of the Southern and Central Plains.
Weather experts are warning about potential flash flooding along the Gulf Coast areas of Texas and Louisiana on Saturday, with rain and thunderstorms anticipated throughout much of the central and eastern United States.
One of the company’s autonomous vehicles became trapped during heavy rainfall in Atlanta on Wednesday that caused street flooding and inundated part of a downtown highway. The vehicle had no passengers inside and was successfully retrieved afterward, according to a company statement. At least one additional vehicle from the fleet was also affected by the storm.
The company’s operations are limited to Atlanta city limits in Georgia, while it provides services across multiple Texas cities.
Operations in Texas were suspended “out of an abundance of caution for the forecasted severe weather,” according to the company’s statement.
