Alphabet's autonomous driving division Waymo suspended its San Francisco services once again due to flood warnings.

According to a customer notice on Alphabet's (GOOGL.US) autonomous driving division Waymo's ride-hailing app, Waymo has temporarily suspended its autonomous taxi service in the San Francisco Bay Area on Thursday due to an expected storm. The National Weather Service extended the flood warning for the entire San Francisco Bay Area until 10 p.m. local time on Friday. The notice stated, "Due to the flash flood warning issued by the National Weather Service, service has been temporarily suspended." Earlier this week, the company announced that it would update its fleet to ensure its autonomous taxi service can operate more effectively during power outages. On December 20th, a major power outage occurred in San Francisco, leaving tens of thousands of residents without power. Waymo suspended its services and caused some of its self-driving vehicles to stop in traffic, exacerbating or causing congestion. Waymo has not immediately responded to requests for comment or specified if regulatory agencies required the service to be suspended on Thursday due to the flash flood warning. The California Public Utilities Commission, responsible for regulating autonomous ride-hailing services in California, did not immediately respond to requests for information during the Christmas holiday on Thursday. Currently, Waymo operates commercial autonomous driving services in five markets in the US, a number that is expected to decrease to three by the end of 2024. Waymo's autonomous taxi service has already been launched in Austin, the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Atlanta, and Los Angeles this year. The company plans to significantly expand its business scope in the US and other regions by 2026, as previously reported. As Waymo tries to expand its autonomous taxi service, it faces increasing public scrutiny and safety concerns. Jeffrey Tumlin, former CEO of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, told the media that regulatory agencies and autonomous taxi companies can learn valuable lessons from the chaos caused by Waymo vehicles during last week's PG&E blackout. Tumlin said, "I think what we need to ponder is, 'how many reasonably self-driving vehicles should be on city streets at different times of day, in different geographical locations, and under different weather conditions?'." He also suggested that regulatory agencies could establish a phased system allowing autonomous car companies to quickly expand their operations under specific testing conditions. One such test is, if autonomous vehicles encounter confusing situations like a four-way intersection with malfunctioning traffic lights, how quickly can the company safely steer them away from traffic. Tumlin said that cities and regulatory agencies should also request more data from autonomous taxi companies to understand their vehicles' plans or actual performance in expected emergencies such as power outages, floods, or earthquakes.