Greater than 4 months after one in all its self-driving automobiles was swept away by floodwaters, ride-hailing firm Waymo on Thursday mentioned its automobiles are once more carrying passengers on San Antonio’s streets.
In April, Waymo put its Alamo Metropolis rollout on pause after one in all its autonomous vehicles was carried off throughout a storm that dumped greater than 6 inches of rainfall on the town in 24 hours.
Though no passengers have been within the car on the time, the corporate took its vehicles off San Antonio streets to reevaluate the tech and discover how one can make them safer for native passengers.
Following an audit of San Antonio flood zones and a number of software program enhancements and changes to the vehicles’ alert techniques, Waymo this week confirmed that the self-driving vehicles are prepared for San Antonio passengers. The vehicles have been on native roads for weeks — simply not choosing up riders.
“Security is our highest precedence, and that unwavering dedication guided each step of the way in which throughout this pause,” Chen mentioned in a press release. “We took the time to implement key software program updates and operational enhancements round floodwaters, and have totally validated our know-how on native roads. We stay up for incomes the belief of San Antonians as they expertise the magic of Waymo rides as soon as once more.”
Even so, Waymo’s service nonetheless isn’t out there to everybody. In contrast to in Austin, the place riders can order a riderless car by way of the Uber app, San Antonio residents nonetheless should be a part of a waitlist by way of the self-driving automobile firm’s app.
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