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Waymo, the self-driving car startup owned by Google parent Alphabet, is being investigated by federal auto safety regulators over its “robotaxis.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it has received 22 reports of Waymo’s cars equipped with its automated driving system (ADS) either potentially violating traffic safety laws or causing a collision. Those reports include collisions with stationary objects like gates and chains, collisions with parked vehicles, and instances where the ADS appeared to disobey traffic safety control devices.
Some of the nearly two dozen incidents were brought to the NHTSA’s attention by incident reports submitted by Waymo. Others were identified based on public reports. Seventeen of the incidents were crashes of fires.
The NHTSA’s investigation will focus on assessing any common issues in the reported incidents. It will also “evaluate the ADS’s performance in detecting and responding to traffic control devices and in avoiding collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles,” it said in a statement.
In total, 444 Waymo vehicles are included in the scope of the NHTSA’s inquiry. A representative for Waymo did not immediately return a request for comment.
If the probe advances beyond a preliminary evaluation, Waymo’s plans to expand its operations around the U.S. could face more criticism or delays.
In March, Waymo began offering driverless robotaxis services in Los Angeles and providing those services for employees in Austin, Texas. Waymo also offers its ride-hail services in Phoenix and San Francisco. The startup aims to begin testing its services across California’s San Francisco Peninsula over the next few weeks.
Cruise, a General Motors-owned self-driving startup, was forced to suspend operations last October after an incident seriously injured a pedestrian in San Francisco. The incident led to the revocation of its license to operate in California, a recall of its fleet, layoffs, and the departure of several executives.
After six months of working to address concerns, Cruise in April said it would resume its manual driving to create maps and gather road information in select cities, starting with Phoenix.
Growing concerns
This latest — and fourth — inquiry in less than a month from the NHTSA highlights the agency’s skepticism of self-driving technology and how safe its vehicles really are.
The NHTSA last Friday opened a preliminary investigation into Amazon-owned Zoox’s driving assistance system. The regulator’s Office of Defects Investigation had received reports of two incidents where Zoox’s vehicles suddenly braked. Each incident led to a rear-end collision and caused minor injuries.
On April 29, the agency opened an investigation into Ford’s BlueCruise driver assistance technology after two fatal incidents earlier this year. Just days earlier, the agency opened another probe into Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistance technology, which has been linked to more than 200 crashes and 29 deaths. Tesla has been given a July 1 deadline to respond to questions posed by the NHTSA regarding its December recall of more than 2 million electric cars over issues with Autopilot.