Source: Gasgoo
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on May 14 that it had opened an investigation into the performance of self-driving cars from Alphabet Inc’s Waymo after reports that its self-driving taxis may have been driving in violation of traffic safety laws.
NHTSA said it launched a preliminary assessment of about 444 Waymo vehicles after receiving reports of 22 accidents, including 17 crashes. In some of those cases, NHTSA said, the self-driving system “appeared to disobey traffic safety controls.”
Waymo did not speak about specific safety incidents, but said “we are proud of our performance and safety record across tens of millions of autonomous miles and our commitment to safety transparency.” The company also said it would continue to cooperate with NHTSA.
Image source: Waymo
The Waymo investigation follows NHTSA investigations into self-driving cars from Cruise, owned by General Motors, and Zoox, owned by Amazon.
In February, Waymo recalled 444 of its self-driving cars after two back-to-back minor crashes in Arizona, saying a software error could prevent the cars from accurately predicting the path of a vehicle being towed.
NHTSA said that in all 22 incidents, the self-driving car was involved in a collision and the self-driving car may have violated traffic safety laws. These accidents include collisions with fixed and semi-fixed objects, such as gates and chains, and with parked vehicles.
NHTSA will investigate the performance of Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving system in “the incidents and similar scenarios identified in this report, as well as more carefully evaluate commonalities in these incidents.”
The current investigation, the first phase before NHTSA requires a recall of vehicles if it determines they pose an unreasonable risk to safety, will evaluate Waymo vehicles’ performance “in detecting and responding to traffic control devices, and avoiding collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles.”
Waymo said in March that it would begin offering free driverless taxis to select members of the public in Los Angeles after the California government approved the launch of its self-driving ride program, Waymo One, in some cities near Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Waymo began offering self-driving services to its employees in Austin, Texas, in March, making it the fourth major self-driving taxi city after San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles.
