Waymo issues recall after two of its autonomous cars crash into the same vehicle

Waymo, which is owned by Google parent company Alphabet, has issued a recall notice for its self-driving cars after two of them hit the same pick-up truck in an accident in December.

The firm currently operates commercial robotaxi services in Phoenix, Arizona, and San Francisco, California, with new services planned in Los Angeles, California, and Austin, Texas.  

But two accidents that occurred on the same day last year in Phoenix caused Waymo to issue a recall that could potentially involve 444 autonomous vehicles.

On December 11, a Waymo vehicle made contact with a backwards-facing pickup truck that was being “improperly towed”, according to a blog post from the firm. 

Following contact, the tow truck and towed pickup truck did not pull over or stop traveling, and a few minutes later another Waymo vehicle made contact with the same pickup truck while it was being towed in the same manner. 

Neither Waymo vehicle was transporting riders at the time, no injuries were incurred and the only damage was inflicted upon the vehicles involved.

Nevertheless, Waymo felt it necessary to roll out a software update for its entire fleet designed to tackle the issue that caused the accidents.

Waymo said: “Given our commitment to safety, our team went to work immediately to understand what happened. We determined that due to the persistent orientation mismatch of the towed pickup truck and tow truck combination, the Waymo AV incorrectly predicted the future motion of the towed vehicle. 

“After developing, rigorously testing and validating a fix, on 20 December 2023 we began deploying a software update to our fleet to address this issue.”

Despite the update, Waymo still decided to issue a recall notice following a series of conversations with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

To date, Waymo vehicles have driven around 10 million fully autonomous miles and served over 1 million ride-hail trips. In its latest research, it claimed that the Waymo Driver’s performance led to “a significant reduction” in the rates of police-reported and injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers in the cities it operates in. 

“As we serve more riders in more cities, we will continue our safety first approach, working to earn trust and foster transparent communication with our riders, community members, regulators and policymakers,” it said.

San Francisco only made the decision to allow firms including Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise to operate their autonomous taxi service at any time of the day in August. It followed a contentious six-hour hearing, in which citizens expressed their concerns regarding the expansion of self-driving cars in the city.