Waymo Recalls 3,900 Robotaxis After Construction Zone Crashes

On June 18, Waymo recalled nearly 3,900 robotaxis equipped with its 5th Generation Automated Driving System, built into Jaguar vehicles. The recall was prompted by a software defect that caused the autonomous driving system to fail to recognize freeway construction zones.

According to the recall notice filed with NHTSA, the autonomous vehicles "may enter and drive at speed in freeway construction zones due to inappropriately prioritizing the avoidance of other freeway hazards and/or failing to recognize the construction zone."

Between April and May this year, six incidents occurred in Phoenix, Arizona. In May, another seven Waymo vehicles entered freeway construction zones in the San Francisco Bay Area, driving between cones marking closures in adjacent lanes. Waymo temporarily restricted freeway operations while it investigated.

One passenger, Elliot Slade, told CBS he was riding with his fiancée from San Mateo to San Francisco when the car sped through a construction zone, chased by police. His words: "We're done. This is it. We're dead. We're going to die right here in the Waymo." The robotaxi eventually veered off the highway into a residential neighborhood. Waymo compensated him with three free rides, each worth up to $40. Slade said he wasn't sure he would use them.

A Waymo spokesperson said the company "identified an area of improvement regarding performance around freeway construction zones," proactively notified regulators, and filed a voluntary software recall.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/waymo-recall-robotaxi-closed-freeway-construction-zone/

3,900 vehicles. BenPig had to count a few times to get it right.