Waymo pauses robotaxi operations in multiple US cities

Waymo has paused its robotaxi—an autonomous vehicle used for ride-hailing—operations in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio because its vehicles are struggling to deal with heavy rain and flooded roads. The company subsequently extended these operational pauses to Austin and Nashville. Additionally, Waymo has halted freeway operations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami as it works to improve performance in construction zones. These pauses highlight the conditional nature of autonomous vehicle deployment. As fleets expand, operators frequently encounter a new edge case—defined as a problem or situation that occurs only at an extreme operating parameter. For Waymo, these persistent weather challenges recently prompted the company to issue a recall. In separate legal developments, a San Francisco doctor dropped a lawsuit against Waymo after the company resolved an issue where its identity-verification system misidentified him as a terrorist.

Beyond autonomous testing, recent financial disclosures have revealed close ties between Elon Musk’s companies. According to an IPO filing, SpaceX purchased $506 million of Tesla’s commercial energy storage products in 2025. The filing also states that SpaceX bought $131 million of Cybertrucks last year. Other transactions include SpaceX paying $1 million to The Boring Company to construct tunnels in Bastrop, Texas, while social media platform X also paid $1 million to lease space from The Boring Company.

Other notable mobility sector updates and funding rounds include:

• Quartermaster: Based in Arlington, Virginia, the startup secured $43 million in Series A funding.
• Aboard: The Southern California-based startup raised $13 million in pre-Series A funding.
• May Mobility: The startup partnered with Ecarx, planning to scale to commercialization by 2028. The total value of the project is estimated to be about $750 million.
• Scapia: The travel booking startup in India raised $63 million in a funding round.
• Uber: The company increased its stake in German food delivery firm Delivery Hero to 19.5%.
• Stellantis: The automaker announced a $70 billion turnaround plan, which includes a partnership with self-driving startup Wayve to bring hands-free driving to its vehicles in 2028.
• Nissan: Pricing comparisons show the 2024 Nissan Leaf SV Plus was priced at $37,815, while the 2026 Nissan Leaf Platinum+ is priced at $42,635.

Why it matters

Waymo’s operational pauses and recalls highlight the conditional nature of robotaxi commercialization, where new edge cases emerge as fleets expand.