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Waymo is voluntarily recalling the software that power its robotaxi fleet after two vehicles crash into the same tow pickup truck in Phoenix , Arizona , in December . It ’s the company ’s first reminiscence .
Waymo master safety officeholder Mauricio Peña name the crashes as “ minor ” in ablog post , and said neither fomite was carrying passengers at the metre . There were no injuries . He also said Waymo ’s drive - hailing service — which is live in Phoenix , San Francisco , Los Angeles , and Austin — “ is not and has not been cut off by this update . ” The company declined to apportion TV of the crash with TechCrunch .
Waymo said it develop , tested , and validated a mend to the package that it started deploying to its fleet on December 20 . All of its robotaxis received that software update by January 12 .
“ This voluntary recall reflects how badly we take our responsibility to safely deploy our technology and to transparently communicate with the public , ” Peña wrote .
The recall comes at a fourth dimension when self - motor cars are facing intense examination following a series of high - visibility crash and disceptation — including one last week wherea Waymo robotaxi struck a cyclist . This past weekend , a Waymo autonomous vehicle was vandalize and burned bya crew of hoi polloi in San Francisco . Rival operator Cruise , meanwhile , has suspended its operations as itdeals with the falloutof a clangour from last October . It hired itsfirst chief safety officeholder this hebdomad .
The crashes that prompted the recall both happened on December 11 . Peña wrote that one of Waymo ’s vehicle came upon a backward - facing pickup truck being “ improperly towed . ” The hand truck was “ persistently angled across a center turn lane and a traffic lane . ” Peña said the robotaxi “ incorrectly predicted the future gesture of the tow vehicle ” because of this mismatch between the orientation of the tow truck and the pickup , and made contact . The company told TechCrunch this caused minor damage to the front leave bumper .
The towage motortruck did not block , though , concord to Peña , and just a few arcminute later another Waymo robotaxi made contact with the same tone arm motortruck being tow . The company told TechCrunch this caused minor damage to the front left bumper and a sensing element . ( The tow motortruck stopped after the second clangour . )
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Waymo said it contacted the Phoenix Police Department and the Arizona Department of Public Safety on the 24-hour interval of the clank , and told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about them on December 15 . The company and NHTSA staff have had “ four subsequent conversation ” about the crashes , before Waymo decided to voluntarily recall the software that was in use at the time .
The recall could increase public pressure sensation on Waymo , as city , citizen and government agencies are scrutinizing the hope of autonomous vehicle fleets . Robotaxis arealready face pushback in Los Angeles , include from theTeamsters union . The California Department of Motor Vehicles is already investigate Waymo ’s aforementioned smash with a cyclist . And the Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , among others , are probe Cruise’shandling of its October clangor .
