Waymo operates more than 1,500 vehicles in several cities across the country, including Los Angeles and Austin, but the company is recalling most of them for a software issue. The Google affiliate said more than 1,200 vehicles could have a software glitch that could affect the vehicles’ ability to identify dangers on the road.
A total of 1,212 vehicles are being recalled, all of which run Waymo’s last-generation automated driving system software. The company said it knew of 16 collisions between its cars and things like gates, chains, and other obstacles between 2022 and the end of last year. That said, no injuries have been reported.
Waymo has been under investigation by the NHTSA since May 2024 due to reports of its autonomous vehicles behaving erratically and violating road laws. NHTSA officials said the investigation “involved collisions with clearly visible objects that a competent driver would be expected to avoid.”
Waymo’s former competitor, Cruise, was shut down by General Motors after several high-profile accidents involving its vehicles, but others, including Zoox from Amazon, remain active. This most recent Waymo recall follows a similar action last year, which occurred after an autonomous taxi ran into a utility pole in Arizona. Earlier in 2024, the company recalled a few hundred cars for a problem with how they identified and avoided towed vehicles.
[Images: Waymo]
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