Waymo Recalls Thousands of Robotaxis Due to Dangerous Maneuvers
In the U.S., Waymo has restricted the operation of about 4,000 self-driving taxis following a series of incidents in which the vehicles drove onto closed or hazardous sections of road. The incidents were recorded in Phoenix and San Francisco, where the vehicles ignored traffic signs and construction zones. The company is already updating its software and has notified regulators of a voluntary recall of the system.
Waymo, an American company developing autonomous vehicle technology, was forced to restrict its robotaxis’ access to highways following a series of incidents in which autonomous vehicles drove onto closed or hazardous sections of road.
According to TechCrunch, the problem occurred in at least 13 instances: six incidents were recorded in April in Phoenix and another seven in May in San Francisco, where the vehicles continued driving despite road signs and roadwork restrictions. The company noted that highway operations were suspended as early as May 19, while the vehicles continue to operate on city streets as usual while engineers refine the software. Waymo filed an official voluntary recall of the system on June 8 and notified regulators.
“Last month, we voluntarily restricted operations on highways while making improvements, notified state and federal regulators in advance, and decided to file a voluntary software recall with the NHTSA,” the company said in a statement. Despite this, parent company Alphabet states that its autonomous vehicles have already traveled more than 273 million kilometers and demonstrate a significant reduction in the number of accidents, though it acknowledges that scaling the service is accompanied by technical difficulties and new challenges for artificial intelligence systems.
Separately, U.S. regulators are continuing to investigate the behavior of robotaxis near school buses following an incident in which one of the vehicles struck a child near a school, which has heightened attention to the safety of autonomous vehicles.
Videos of dangerous behavior by robotaxis have also begun to appear online, including instances where vehicles drove through traffic cones or accelerated near roadwork zones, sparking a new wave of criticism directed at the technology. “There were construction signs… The police were in the distance, and it sped up. That’s when I looked at my fiancée: we’re done for. That’s it,” one eyewitness told CBS News.
The company offered the passenger a few free rides as compensation, but the incidents have already sparked a broader discussion about the safety limits of autonomous vehicles and the readiness of such systems for real-world urban conditions, according to TechCrunch.
SpaceX Acquires AI Coding Startup Cursor for $60 Billion
The European AI model Mistral has proven vulnerable to Russian propaganda, according to the Financial Times
