Waymo has voluntarily issued a software recall for all 672 of its Jaguar I-Pace robot taxis after one of them collided with a telephone pole. This is Waymo’s second recall. The Alphabet-owned company recalled previous software in February after two of its robot taxis crashed into the same truck towing a truck.
The lip It first broke the news after Waymo notified the publication of its recall treatment — a sign that the robotaxi company is taking a proactive approach amid increased scrutiny from regulators and the general public. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating Waymo’s autonomous vehicle software after receiving 31 reports of robots crashing or potentially violating traffic safety laws.
NHTSA confirmed to TechCrunch that it has received Waymo’s recall documents and is processing them for publication on its website.
“This is our second voluntary recall,” Waymo spokeswoman Kathryn Barna told TechCrunch. “This reflects how seriously we take our responsibility to securely develop our technology and communicate transparently with the public.”
Transparency is at the heart of most autonomous vehicle companies after the turmoil at GM’s Cruise in October and November 2023. While Cruise is slowly returning to markets, the company lost its licenses to operate in California and grounded its entire fleet last year after one of his robots ran over and dragged a pedestrian for 20 feet. The company’s reputation took a hit less because of the nature of the incident—a human vehicle hit the pedestrian first, throwing them into the path of the Cruise robotaxi—and more because Cruise executives withheld key details of the incident from regulators.
The accident that prompted Waymo’s second recall occurred on May 21 when a Waymo vehicle in Phoenix, driving without a human safety operator, collided with a telephone pole in an alley during a low-speed pullover maneuver.
Local references say Waymo was driving to pick up a passenger through an alley lined on both sides by wooden telephone poles that were flush with the road and surrounded by yellow lines to define a route for the vehicles. The Waymo vehicle slowed to roll over and hit a pole at eight miles per hour. Video of the crashed vehicle shows it appears to have crashed right into the pole. Waymo’s robotaxi was damaged, but no passengers or pedestrians were injured.
“We immediately went to work and determined that, in some cases, our vehicles had insufficient ability to avoid collisions with narrow, permanent objects on the road within the drivable surface,” Barna said. “We have since implemented mapping and software updates.”
The passenger told 12News that Waymo — which was supposed to be her first ride — never arrived to pick her up.
