Sean O'Kane reports via TechCrunch: Waymo is voluntarily recalling the software that powers its robotaxi vehicles after two vehicles collided with the same pickup truck being towed in Phoenix, Arizona, in December. This is the company's first recall. Mauricio Pena, Waymo's chief safety officer, called the crash “minor” in a blog post and said neither vehicle was carrying any passengers at the time. There were no injuries. He also said that Waymo's ride-hailing services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin “have not been disrupted by this update and are currently not disrupted.” The company declined to share video of the crash with TechCrunch.
Waymo said it has developed, tested and validated a software fix that it began rolling out to its fleet on December 20th. All of the company's robotaxis received their software update by January 12th. “This voluntary recall reflects how seriously we take our responsibility to safety, deploy our technology, and communicate transparently with the public,” Pena wrote. .
Both accidents that triggered the recall occurred on December 11th. Pena wrote that one Waymo vehicle encountered a pickup truck facing backwards that was being “improperly towed.” The truck was “constantly leaning diagonally across the center turn lane and across the lane.” Pena said this misalignment between the tow truck and pickup caused the robotaxi to “incorrectly predict the tow truck's future movement” and make contact. The company told TechCrunch that this caused minor damage to the left front bumper. But Pena said the tow truck did not stop, and just minutes later another Waymo robotaxi collided with the same pickup truck it was towing. The company told TechCrunch that this caused minor damage to the left front bumper and sensor. (The tow truck stopped after the second collision.) Last week, a Waymo self-driving car was destroyed by a crowd and set ablaze in San Francisco. Meanwhile, rival operator Cruise Corp. has suspended operations while it investigates an incident in which its robotaxi struck a pedestrian who was struck by another vehicle driven by a human.