{"id":"933dcc80-a2f0-4779-9df7-abe8f29a38c9","slug":"waymo-floodwater-recall-2026-05","kind":"recall","headline":"Waymo recalls 3,791 robotaxis after vehicle drove into flooded roadway","summary":"Waymo recalled 3,791 robotaxis (NHTSA recall 26E026) after an unoccupied Waymo AV encountered an untraversable flooded section of a 40 mph roadway on April 20, 2026, detected potentially untraversable flood water, and proceeded at reduced speed rather than stopping. Waymo's Safety Board reviewed the issue on April 24 and decided to conduct a recall. No injuries reported. Remedy addresses ADS behavior in flooded road conditions on higher-speed roadways.","occurredAt":"2026-04-20T00:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"reviewed","modelId":null,"deploymentId":null,"companyId":"2128addc-20c8-4c31-aef5-be5ada97aede","aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"moderate","rootCauseCategory":"planning_perception_error","rootCauseDetail":"ADS detected but did not adequately respond to untraversable flooded roadway, proceeding at reduced speed instead of stopping.","affectedUnitsCount":3791,"affectedUnitsBasis":"fleet_wide","remediationStatus":"in_progress","regulatoryAction":"recall_ordered","regulatoryBody":"NHTSA","propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":null,"fatalityCount":null,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"oshaRecordable":null,"oshaCaseNumber":null,"rootCauseDisclosed":null,"publicDisclosureDate":null,"insuranceClaimPublic":null,"formFactor":null,"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"autonomyClass":null,"legalOutcomeClass":"unknown","createdAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-09T05:24:01.599Z","model":null,"deployment":null,"company":{"id":"2128addc-20c8-4c31-aef5-be5ada97aede","name":"Waymo","slug":"waymo","description":"Waymo is Alphabet's autonomous driving subsidiary. It operates the Waymo One robotaxi service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Miami, and runs Waymo Via for autonomous trucking. Spun out of Google's self-driving car project as a standalone Alphabet subsidiary in December 2016.","status":"subsidiary","founded":2009,"hq":"Mountain View, CA","hqLat":37.3893889,"hqLng":-122.0832101,"hqGeocodedAt":"2026-08-05T14:54:38.143Z","hqAddress":null,"hqPrecision":null,"website":"waymo.com","fundingTotal":"27000000000","type":"both","reviewStatus":"reviewed","lifecycleState":"active","supersededByCompanyId":null,"sources":[{"url":"https://waymo.com","label":"Waymo — Company website"},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo","label":"Wikipedia — Waymo (history, operations, ownership)"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Valuation","value":"$126B post-money (Feb 2026 Series D)"},{"label":"Funding raised","value":"~$27B lifetime ($16B Series D, Feb 2026, largest AV round ever)"},{"label":"Weekly rides","value":"~500,000 paid/week (targeting 1M by end-2026)"},{"label":"Ride volume","value":"15M in 2025; 20M+ lifetime"},{"label":"Autonomous miles","value":"127M+ fully autonomous"},{"label":"Safety claim (Waymo)","value":"90% fewer serious-injury crashes vs. humans (company-stated)"},{"label":"Operating markets","value":"~11 US metros (Waymo One)"},{"label":"Vehicle","value":"Jaguar I-PACE, 6th-gen Waymo Driver"},{"label":"Recent recalls","value":"School-bus passing; ~3,800-vehicle San Antonio flood recall"},{"label":"Active investigations","value":"NHTSA (Santa Monica child injury); NTSB (TX school-bus)"},{"label":"wikidata","value":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15330"},{"label":"wikipedia","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo"},{"label":"Hero image candidate","value":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Waymo_self-driving_car_front_view.gk.jpg (source: Wikimedia Commons, license: CC BY-SA 4.0, Quality image)"},{"label":"Miami depot 1","value":"Operational depot in Wynwood District, Miami (verified, field-inspected 2026)"},{"label":"Miami depot 2","value":"Future depot adjacent to Miami International Airport (under preparation, 2026)"},{"label":"Austin depot","value":"Operations facility on Stassney near Burleson Rd, south of Ben White, Austin TX"},{"label":"Mesa manufacturing hub","value":"Magna retrofits Jaguar I-PACE vehicles for Waymo fleet in Mesa, AZ"},{"label":"IIHS safety rating","value":"Independent IIHS study: Waymo L4 driverless crash rate 68% lower than human drivers (July 2026)"},{"label":"Fleet size (July 2026)","value":"3,800+ vehicles across 10 cities"},{"label":"Valuation (Feb 2026)","value":"$126B — raised $16B to fund expansion"},{"label":"Uber partnership status","value":"Exploring exit — notified Uber of independent entry Jan 2028. Parted ways in Phoenix May 2026."},{"label":"Austin/Atlanta dispute","value":"Waymo questioned cleanliness/routing of Uber-operated vehicles. Uber raised concerns about financial terms and weather-related unavailability."}],"aliases":["Waymo LLC","Waymo One","Google Self-Driving Car Project","Waymo Driver","Alphabet Waymo","Google Waymo","Google self-driving car"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":"greenhouse","atsSlug":"waymo","factoryLocations":null,"manufacturingCapacity":null,"orgType":null,"burnSignal":null,"litigationEvents":null,"insurancePostureDisclosed":null,"unitEconomicsDisclosed":null,"tickerSymbol":null,"stockExchange":null,"secCik":null,"revenueUsd":null,"revenueBasis":null,"revenueAsOf":null,"employeeCount":null,"employeeCountBasis":null,"employeeCountAsOf":null,"marketCapUsd":null,"marketCapAsOf":null,"marketCapSource":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-25T03:56:10.060Z","updatedAt":"2026-08-05T14:55:18.420Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"607771c6-87c1-4e43-8927-d584e45173d1","incidentId":"933dcc80-a2f0-4779-9df7-abe8f29a38c9","url":"https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/2026/RCLRPT-26E026-6527.pdf","label":"NHTSA","publishedAt":"2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":"NHTSA","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z"},{"id":"9c35b2d1-04f3-468a-8606-cfa9258bb921","incidentId":"933dcc80-a2f0-4779-9df7-abe8f29a38c9","url":"https://electrek.co/2026/05/12/waymo-recalls-3791-robotaxis-flooded-road-ota-software-fix/","label":"Electrek","publishedAt":"2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":"Electrek","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z"},{"id":"203d0809-59b1-4e28-b771-6d788d3e69be","incidentId":"933dcc80-a2f0-4779-9df7-abe8f29a38c9","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/12/us/waymo-recall-robotaxis-flood-water.html","label":"New York Times","publishedAt":"2026-05-12T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":"New York Times","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:45.146Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[{"id":"77e0c1a0-dc22-48eb-af15-9aef3f39b516","incidentId":"933dcc80-a2f0-4779-9df7-abe8f29a38c9","status":"active","reason":null,"source":"agent:recon","effectiveAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:46.534Z","createdAt":"2026-07-22T21:22:46.534Z"}],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/waymo-floodwater-recall-2026-05","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/waymo-floodwater-recall-2026-05","headline":"Waymo recalls 3,791 robotaxis after vehicle drove into flooded roadway","description":"Waymo recalled 3,791 robotaxis (NHTSA recall 26E026) after an unoccupied Waymo AV encountered an untraversable flooded section of a 40 mph roadway on April 20, 2026, detected potentially untraversable flood water, and proceeded at reduced speed rather than stopping. Waymo's Safety Board reviewed the issue on April 24 and decided to conduct a recall. No injuries reported. Remedy addresses ADS behavior in flooded road conditions on higher-speed roadways.","identifier":"933dcc80-a2f0-4779-9df7-abe8f29a38c9","datePublished":"2026-04-20T00:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"recall","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"verified","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":3,"primary_source_types":["primary-regulatory-filing","secondary-established-publication"]}}}