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ATLANTA — Waymo temporarily suspended its driverless ride-hailing service in Atlanta on Tuesday after one of its unoccupied autonomous vehicles became stuck in floodwaters during a sudden heavy downpour.

The incident occurred when the vehicle drove into a flooded roadway amid intense rainfall that struck parts of the city. According to the company, the vehicle stopped safely after entering the flooded area and was later recovered without incident.

No passengers were in the vehicle at the time, and no injuries were reported.

A viewer-submitted photo shared with 11Alive showed the Waymo vehicle driving directly into a large flooded zone before stalling. The vehicle remained in place until floodwaters receded roughly an hour later, at which point it was driven away by a person.

In a statement, Waymo emphasized that safety is its top priority.

“Safety is Waymo’s top priority, both for our riders and everyone we share the road with. During a period of intense rain today in Atlanta, an unoccupied Waymo vehicle encountered a flooded road and stopped. The vehicle has been recovered and removed from the scene,” the company said.

Waymo noted that the rapid onset of the storm created hazardous conditions before the National Weather Service issued any flash flood warnings, watches, or advisories, and before the company’s own operational safety thresholds were triggered.

The company said it has already made operational adjustments related to flooding following a recent recall and is actively developing additional software updates to better handle flooded roadways.

Waymo’s Atlanta service will remain paused while crews continue to monitor weather and road conditions. Operations are expected to resume once conditions are deemed safe.

The pause marks the latest challenge for Waymo’s expanding autonomous fleet as it navigates increasingly variable weather events in multiple U.S. cities.

Waymo also halted service in Dallas and Houston because of severe weather across Texas this week, the company confirmed to TechCrunch late Thursday.

Waymo admitted that it hadn’t finished developing a “final remedy” for avoiding flooded areas when it issued its software recall last week. Instead, the company said that it shipped an update to its fleet that placed “restrictions at times and in locations where there is an elevated risk of encountering a flooded, higher-speed roadway,” according to documents released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

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