Waymo is undertaking a safety recall of 3,791 autonomous taxis operating in the United States after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) concluded that a self-driving software defect could plausibly result in vehicles driving onto flooded sections of roadway.
The NHTSA said the recall specifically targets certain fifth- and sixth-generation Automated Driving Systems (ADS) installed in the affected robotaxis. As immediate measures, Waymo has narrowed its operational scope to tighten weather-related restrictions and has updated maps used by the vehicles to reduce the likelihood of the condition arising in active service.
The agency noted that a complete technical remedy to the software issue is currently under development. Until that full fix is available, the company has applied the interim mitigations described by the regulator.
Regulatory inquiries beyond the recall
The recall comes alongside other regulatory attention toward Waymo’s autonomous vehicle program. NHTSA is conducting a probe into an incident in January in which one of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California. Separately, the National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into a January occurrence in Texas where Waymo vehicles allegedly passed a stopped school bus with its lights activated, in apparent violation of state law.
These additional inquiries are separate from the software-related recall; the NHTSA and the NTSB actions are cited by authorities in public statements detailing the safety oversight surrounding the company’s robotaxi operations.
Market context
The report includes listed market references to Alphabet’s tickers, showing declines alongside the developments: GOOGL down 3.03% and GOOG down 2.59% as presented in market summary lines accompanying the safety update.
The recall and concurrent probes represent ongoing regulatory scrutiny of Waymo’s autonomous vehicle program. For now, Waymo is relying on tightened weather constraints and revised mapping as interim steps while engineers work on a permanent software correction.