California’s auto regulator, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), is investigating an incident that occurred Tuesday in which a driverless Waymo car collided with a bicyclist, according to a report by Reuters.
San Francisco police said the bicyclist suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to a report from SFGate. Waymo, which is owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, said there was only one person in the car, who was not injured. After the incident they also informed the police.
The company said the driverless car was stopped at a four-way intersection as a large truck was traveling in the opposite direction. The car then moved into the intersection and collided with the cyclist behind the truck.
“The cyclist was ejected from the truck and quickly followed behind, crossing into the path of the Waymo vehicle. When they became fully visible, our vehicle braked hard but was unable to avoid the collision,” the company said in a statement.
Waymo began offering robotaxi services to verified riders in San Francisco in August 2021. In September 2021, the company received a regulatory decision from the California Department of Motor Vehicles to begin charging for these taxi services. However, it needed a green light from the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) in August 2022 for the paid service to begin.
In October, Waymo expanded its service areas in San Francisco to serve tens of thousands of riders, people familiar with the matter told TechCrunch at the time.
Autonomous taxi companies are already under scrutiny. Last year, Cruise was forced to recall its entire fleet of self-driving taxis after a robotaxi hit and ran over a pedestrian. Last month, the GM subsidiary’s internal report revealed that the Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission are investigating the company.
