Waymo suspended its robotaxi services on U.S. freeways and paused all operations in Atlanta. The company is deploying software updates to improve vehicle performance in construction zones and flooded road conditions. This move follows an incident where an unoccupied vehicle became stuck in Atlanta floodwaters.
The halt comes shortly after Waymo recalled nearly 3,800 vehicles due to a flooding-related navigation glitch. While street-level services in other markets remain unaffected, the freeze slows Waymo's commercial rollout against competitors Tesla and Zoox.
Alphabet (GOOG) shares closed slightly lower at $383.47 on Thursday. Investors largely ignored the setback as major Wall Street firms reiterated bullish ratings based on Google's long-term AI capabilities.