ATLANTA — Self-driving vehicle company Waymo said about 1,200 vehicles are being recalled due to a software issue that could cause collisions with roadway barriers.
However, the recall will not impact the Atlanta area, nor its program with Uber for self-driving cars in the city.
According to Waymo, the recall is voluntary and applies to cars with software released before November 2024.
In a statement shared with Channel 2 Action News, Waymo said the recall does not impact any vehicles currently on the road.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced on Monday that certain Waymo vehicles with the company’s 5th Generation Automated Driving Systems software from before Nov. 7, 2024 were included in the recall.
“The software may cause the vehicles to collide with certain roadway barriers, such as chains and gates,” NHTSA said.
Additionally, the company said that a software update resolved the issue in November last year, “significantly decreasing the likelihood” of minor collisions.
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More specifically, “the voluntary recall was issued due to minor collisions involving chains, gates, and other gate-like roadway barriers, none of which caused injury and the vast majority of which were low speed.”
As far as taking action with the recall, a Waymo spokesperson said the company “provides more than 250,000 paid trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments in the U.S. We hold ourselves to a high safety standard, and our record of reducing injuries over tens of millions of fully autonomous miles driven shows our technology is making roads safer. NHTSA plays a vital role in road safety, and we will continue to work collaboratively with the agency as part of our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.”
A federal spokesperson told Channel 2 Action News that an NHTSA investigation was opened in 2024 after receiving reports of 22 incidents involving Waymo’s vehicles, those running their fifth-generation software.
The safety defect in the previous software version was detected in 1,212 vehicles.
As of Dec. 26, 2024, NHTSA said Waymo had already updated its ADS software free of charge and all affected vehicles had been repaired.
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