Self-driving car company Waymo may have its time in the barrel coming just like the now-suspended Cruise, as the NHTSA is probing 22 separate crashes and safety incidents with their cars. Oh, and Amazon’s Zoox is being investigated too.
When we talk about viral videos of self-driving car mishaps, these videos were usually on the streets right here in San Francisco. But the autonomous cock-ups also happen in Arizona, where the vehicles are also able to operate in full self-driving mode without a human driver in the vehicle. Take a look at the video below shot in Tempe, Arizona, can you figure out what the self-driving car is doing incorrectly?
@kilowattsapp Hello officer, sry i got a little confused #waymo #autonomous ♬ original sound - kilowattsapp
NBC Bay Area reports that the Google self-driving car subsidiary Waymo is now under federal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), for 22 separate incidents of allegedly Waymo-caused crashes, or traffic violations by the vehicles. Reuters has the additional detail that 17 of these incidents were collisions where the Waymo "appeared to disobey traffic safety control devices" and autonomous driving systems "exhibited unexpected behavior near traffic safety control devices."
The Verge has a copy of the full copy of the NHTSA report from that agency’s Office of Defects Investigation.
“The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has received reports of 22 incidents involving Waymo vehicles equipped with Waymo’s 5th generation automated driving system (ADS) wherein the ADS-equipped vehicle was the sole vehicle operated during a collision or wherein the ADS-equipped vehicle exhibited driving behavior that potentially violated traffic safety laws,” the report says. “Reports include collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains, collisions with parked vehicles, and instances in which the ADS appeared to disobey traffic safety control devices. In certain incidents, a collision occurred shortly after the ADS exhibited unexpected behavior near traffic safety control devices.”
The vehicles reportedly violated traffic laws in all 22 of these incidents. The NHTSA also mentions Waymo “vehicles driving in opposing lanes with nearby oncoming traffic or entering construction zones." That Waymo behavior just happened here in SF on the night of April 19, though it was not nearly as egregious as the TokTok video from Tempe at the top of this post.
For their part, Waymo insisted there is nothing to see here, and they are cooperating fully.
“At Waymo we currently serve over 50 thousand weekly trips for our riders in some of the most challenging and complex environments,” Waymo spokesperson Christopher Bonelli said in a statement to the Verge. “We are proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency. NHTSA plays a very important role in road safety and we will continue to work with them as part of our mission to become the world’s most trusted driver.”
It turns out the NHTSA is also investigating other self-driving car outfits Cruise, Tesla, and Zoox, as well as Ford’s self-driving car division too. NBC Bay Area notes that the NHTSA has called out Tesla for “467 crashes involving Autopilot resulting in 54 injuries and 14 deaths,” while KGO notes that Amazon-owned Zoox is facing a probe “after two of its vehicles braked suddenly and were rear-ended by motorcyclists.”
Related: Confused Waymo Cars Block 101 On-Ramp In Potrero Hill, Then Go Down Closed Road [SFist]
Image: Joe Kukura, SFist