Waymo, the autonomous driving division of Alphabet, has issued a recall for 1,212 of its self-driving vehicles to roll out a critical software update aimed at preventing collisions with roadside barriers such as gates, chains, and other fixed objects. The move comes amid ongoing scrutiny from U.S. auto safety regulators.
The vehicles impacted by the recall are equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation autonomous driving system (ADS). According to a report submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Waymo acknowledged 16 minor incidents involving its vehicles making contact with stationary obstacles between 2022 and late 2024. Fortunately, no injuries were reported in these cases.
The recall coincides with an investigation launched by NHTSA in May 2024 into the operational safety of Waymo’s autonomous fleet. The agency cited several events where Waymo vehicles allegedly failed to avoid easily detectable objects — behavior that would be unacceptable from a competent human driver. That investigation is still underway.
Waymo says the flaw has been resolved in its newly released sixth-generation ADS, which was deployed across its entire fleet by the end of December 2024. “We’re operating more than 250,000 fully autonomous rides each week across some of the most complex urban areas in the country,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “Our safety record across millions of driverless miles demonstrates that our technology is actively reducing roadway injuries.”
This isn’t Waymo’s first recall. Earlier in February 2024, the company pulled 444 vehicles following a software glitch that led to two collisions in Arizona. The issue stemmed from the system’s misinterpretation of a vehicle being towed.
Self-driving tech firms — including Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise — have faced heightened regulatory oversight since a high-profile 2023 incident in which a Cruise-operated robotaxi seriously injured a pedestrian. That event prompted GM to reduce Cruise’s budget and bring it under broader company oversight.
In another 2024 incident, Waymo recalled over 670 vehicles in June after one of them collided with a wooden utility pole in Phoenix.
More recently, Amazon-owned Zoox also joined the growing list of companies issuing recalls. Last week, Zoox announced it would be pulling 270 driverless vehicles from the roads after one of its unoccupied robotaxis was involved in a minor accident with a passenger car in Las Vegas. No injuries were reported in that crash either.