Waymo is halting its highway rides after robo-taxis struggle in construction zones

Waymo confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday that it has discontinued its robotaxi service on freeways in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Miami, as it works to improve performance in construction zones.

Waymo said it is incorporating “modern technology lessons into our program and expects to resume these routes soon.” Waymo robo-taxis still operate on surface streets in those cities.

The decision to pull robotaxis from highways follows Waymo’s decision to temporarily halt operations in Atlanta and San Antonio, Texas, to address flooding issues in those cities. The company announced a software recall last week that was supposed to help its fleet avoid flooded areas in San Antonio, where service was halted for weeks, while it works on a more permanent fix. At least one robo-taxi was spotted stuck in Atlanta this week, prompting Waymo to suspend its operations there as well.

These service outages come as Waymo seeks to expand into a number of new cities around the world this year, with a goal of offering up to 1 million paid rides per week at the end of 2026. Waymo is also currently testing a new Zeekr-designed robo-taxi, which it calls Ojai, and is expected to begin offering rides in that vehicle in the coming months.

Waymo began offering highway rides in late 2025. Putting its robo-taxis on these high-speed routes has been critical to its expansion into large metro areas, as it helps the company better connect riders to local airports, and reduces ride times by skipping surface streets.

In the Bay Area in particular, Waymo’s expressway travel has helped dramatically reduce journey times across the peninsula that previously took from 45 minutes to more than an hour.

Waymo did not cite a specific incident behind its decision to suspend driving on the highway this week. But the company’s robotaxis have been spotted struggling in highway construction zones. On May 19, user