<\/p>\n
A Waymo robotaxi heads into the intersection at North Main and Evergreen streets as a worker pressure washes a crosswalk. The service was shut down in April after one of the company’s cars was swept off a flooded road, but police records show they faced dozens of other issues before that.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
San Antonio police responded to at least 50 incidents involving Waymo robotaxis<\/a> in the 10 months before the company\u00a0shut down service<\/a> in April after one of its cars drove into floodwaters and was swept away<\/a>.<\/p>\n Most of the calls involved Waymos blocking traffic. But there were also crashes, cars stranded in high water, reckless- and wrong-way-driving complaints. They also included reports of three cats struck by the self-driving cars.\u00a0The white\u00a0SUVS haven\u2019t injured anyone in San Antonio while operating autonomously, according to police records, but a pedestrian required hospitalization after being\u00a0hit in April by a\u00a0Waymo with a human at the wheel<\/a>.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The ride-hailing service in San Antonio is still shut down, but the Google spinoff has resumed testing its autonomous Jaguar I-PACEs in the city.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Texas incidents fuel NHTSA warning to robotaxi companies on hindering first responders<\/a><\/p>\n A review of 270 pages of police records shows that the cars frequently need help from humans when they run into trouble. They also reveal more about\u00a0Waymo\u2019s operation, the odd ways some people interact with the equipment-laden cars\u00a0\u2014 and how the\u00a0robotaxis could help solve crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n San Antonio Express News Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Not all of the calls were due to Waymo operational failures but they show the difficulties the evolving technology has in a city environment built for humans.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Waymo spokesman Nye Davidson said the police records tell an incomplete story.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to distinguish between a police record that references a Waymo vehicle and an incident in which a Waymo vehicle required police assistance,\u201d he said in an email.<\/p>\n Many of the events didn\u2019t have \u201ca clear indication if any follow-up happened or was even necessary\u201d and Davidson said that the company would not characterize them as \u201c50 operational incidents attributable to Waymo.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Got\u00a0Waymo out of the road \u2026 \u2019<\/p>\n \u00a0Between June 2025 and April, police received at least 24 calls about Waymos stopped in intersections, streets, driveways or road shoulders.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The calls spanned Waymo\u2019s 60-square-mile San Antonio service area<\/a> and were largely clustered along major north-central and near-downtown corridors, including Harry Wurzbach Road, Austin Highway, Interstate 35, New\u00a0Braunfels Avenue, San Pedro Avenue and\u00a0Basse Road.<\/p>\n They included an April 3 incident at the intersection of\u00a0 Burr and\u00a0Wurzbach roads where two\u00a0Waymos were stopped at a traffic signal that\u00a0was stuck on red, forcing other vehicles to drive around them. A similar event was reported five days later at\u00a0McCullough Avenue and\u00a0Basse when malfunctioning railroad crossing arms hung up another Waymo.\u00a0<\/p>\n Also in April, two Waymos were spotted diagonally blocking the road at New Braunfels and Cloverleaf avenues. The cars were gone by the time an officer arrived.<\/p>\n COMPETITION: Tesla wins San Antonio approval for robotaxi site near airport<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On Feb. 3, two officers had to help move a disabled Waymo from an Interstate 35 frontage road. \u201cMade location and got Waymo out of the road,\u201d one of the officers wrote in the report.<\/p>\n Austin police officers work to get a Waymo robotaxi moving after it temporarily stopped near a rollover crash in May at West 15th and San Antonio streets in Austin. Officers responded to dozens of Waymo related calls in San Antonio before the company shut down its service in April.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n In 12 of the cases, the robotaxis were gone or no longer blocking traffic when police arrived. Nine required some intervention by officers, police dispatchers or\u00a0Waymo staff. In two, no clear outcome was recorded and one was deemed not a traffic hazard.\u00a0<\/p>\n The police department\u00a0said it and the fire department met with Waymo in late 2025 to train first responders on how to work with the vehicles during emergencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n On Wednesday, a photo of a Waymo appearing to be pulled over by police on San Pedro Ave. at West Elmira Street began circulating on social media<\/a>. But the officer wasn\u2019t making a traffic stop, according to police\u00a0spokeswoman Julyssa DeLuna.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe vehicle was already stopped, and the officer helped relocate it safely,\u201d she said in an email. \u201cAs far as citations, we do not track the number of citations given to Waymo vehicles.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Another\u00a0Waymo stuck in water\u2019<\/p>\n Waymo has had at least four problems with cars in high water, twice the number the company has previously disclosed.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The most serious occurred April 20, when an unoccupied\u00a0Waymo drove into floodwaters<\/a> covering an Interstate 35 frontage road at Salado Creek. The car was swept away and recovered four days later along the\u00a0Greenway Trail system near Pletz County Park.<\/p>\n According to the California-based company, the incident revealed a need to improve the cars\u2019 software when operating on \u201chigh-speed flooded roadways.\u201d\u00a0Though it issued a software recall for its entire U.S. fleet after the incident, only its San Antonio service remains suspended.<\/p>\n READ NEXT: Records show Waymo robotaxi entered floodwaters near dangerous San Antonio crossing<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWe put mitigations in place after the incident and filed a voluntary software recall with (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) related to that specific scenario,\u201d Davidson, the Waymo spokesman, said.\u00a0The software recall impacted Waymo\u2019s fleet of 3,800 cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A Waymo autonomous vehicle goes through standing water on Metro Center Drive in Austin after a brief, intense rainstorm April 30.<\/p>\n Jay Janner\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n In May, the company briefly shut down passenger service in its other Texas markets \u2014 Austin, Dallas and Houston \u2014 as well as in Atlanta and Nashville, because of impending severe weather.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The other high water incidents in San Antonio occurred during heavy rains April 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n One unoccupied Waymo \u201cdrove into a ditch and (was) covered in water\u201d at McCullough Avenue and East Contour Drive.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cWaymo support made the high water crossing a no go zone so other\u00a0Waymos will not go this way,\u201d an officer wrote in the report. \u201cEnsured a tow was\u00a0enroute.\u201d<\/p>\n Two other robotaxis also got stranded that day, one in a \u201cbig dip (that) collects a lot of water\u201d at Basse Road and Neer Avenue and another on Devine Road at the Olmos Sports Complex.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAnother Waymo stuck in water,\u201d the reporting officer wrote. \u201cMoved to safety, contacted support.\u201d<\/p>\n Crashes, unusual driving complaints<\/p>\n Waymos have been involved in at least five crashes, including the April 2 accident on Eisenhauer Road in which one of the cars hit a pedestrian while being driven by a human.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Other vehicles struck the robotaxis in the other crashes between February and April\u00a0\u2014 including two apparent hit-and-runs.\u00a0<\/p>\n At least nine calls reported robotaxis driving recklessly.\u00a0They had officers looking for Waymos driving on railroad tracks and street shoulders, going the wrong way on Broadway, approaching someone at a\u00a0Whataburger drive-through, cutting off a biker, speeding, and going the wrong way up a parking lot exit ramp.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: Human driver in Waymo robotaxi hits pedestrian on Northeast Side, San Antonio police say<\/a><\/p>\n In each of those cases, the Waymos were gone before officers arrived.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cNot able to locate the vehicle in question, and it wasn\u2019t hit by a train otherwise there woulda been waymo\u2019 pieces of debris in that area,\u201d wrote the officer who responded.\u00a0<\/p>\n In March, a human Waymo driver was cited after driving around police barricades<\/a> for a house fire on Eisenhauer.\u00a0<\/p>\n How residents interacted with Waymos<\/p>\n The white Jaguars laden with spinning sensors and cameras also have had some strange interactions with people since hitting San Antonio streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n A half-dozen calls reported them as suspicious vehicles loitering on residential streets. One female caller was concerned she was being stalked by one of the cars with a human driver. An officer reported no criminal activity. And the robotaxi\u2019s remote human overseers, who can assist the cars and watch their camera feeds from afar, have also called police for assistance.<\/p>\n They\u2019ve reported a man standing in the road and blocking a Waymo\u2019s path, another who threw a cup of water at one and an incident involving two apparently homeless people looking into and leaning on a\u00a0robotaxi.<\/p>\n In January and February, Waymos hit and killed three cats, two more than previously disclosed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n