Google spin-off Waymo has recalled 1,212 self-driving vehicles after the US driver safety regulator found they had a tendency to crash into road barriers such as chains and gates.
“A vehicle that crashes into chains, gates or other gate-like roadway barriers increases the risk of injury,” said the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in a recall notice.
The agency found in an investigation last year that in 16 incidents Waymo vehicles had been involved in “collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains” dating back to December 2022.
Driver safety
The incidents didn’t result in injuries.
But the NHTSA said the incidents “involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid”.
In November 2024 Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, released sixth-generation software that “significantly reduced the likelihood of collisions with chains, gates, and other gate-like roadway barriers”.
The software was deployed across its entire fleet by 26 December, 2024, the company said.
The issue involved most of the more than 1,500 driverless vehicles Waymo operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin.
Although the issue was fixed in December, Waymo is legally obliged to issue a formal recall notice.
Self-driving car companies have come under increased scrutiny since an incident in November 2023 in which a GM Cruise car dragged a pedestrian through a street after the pedestrian had been hit by another car.
Regulatory oversight
GM later reduced the funding for Cruise and refocused the unit on research into automated driving systems for personal vehicles.
Self-driving cars have continued to attract interest, however, with Tesla planning to launch a “Robotaxi” service using its own automated driving technology this year and planning a “Cybercab” vehicle with no driving controls.
