I for one welcome our new autonomous vehicle overlords

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Waymo caught on camera stalled by puddle on Austin road

A Waymo was caught on camera stalled on a downtown Austin road due to water over the road.

www.fox7austin.com

I don't think they can swim.

 

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They really cannot swim

Waymo recalls entire U.S. robotaxi fleet after vehicle swept away in San Antonio flood

Waymo is recalling its U.S. fleet of robotaxis after one of the autonomous vehicles was swept away when it drove into floodwaters in San Antonio.

The voluntary software recall stems from an incident during severe weather April 20, when a Waymo vehicle “encountered an untraversible flooded section of a roadway,” the company told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Though the vehicle detected the flooded road, it continued into floodwaters at reduced speed.

“We are working to implement additional software safeguards and have put mitigations in place, including refining our extreme weather operations during periods of intense rain, limiting access to areas where flash flooding ‌might ⁠occur,” Waymo said in a statement.

Fortunately no one was in the vehicle at the time.

 

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Tesla robotaxis stall as Musk’s self-driving hype hits real-world traffic

When Elon Musk kicked off Tesla Inc.’s quarterly earnings call in July 2025, robotaxis were top of mind.

www.latimes.com

When Elon Musk kicked off Tesla Inc.’s quarterly earnings call in July 2025, robotaxis were top of mind. The carmaker had just launched its automated ride-hailing service several weeks earlier in Austin, Texas, to glowing early reviews from the hand-picked crop of initial riders.

“We’ve already expanded our service area in Austin,” the chief executive said. Tesla was planning to grow further in the city and quickly spread to California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. “We’ll probably have autonomous ride-hailing in about half the population of the U.S. by the end of the year.”

Almost a year later, Tesla has just 59 vehicles in its entire robotaxi fleet as of Tuesday, limited to three Texas cities.