Waymo self-driving cars that can be seen cruising through the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco in California have been recalled due to crashes, according to a new notice. This week, auto industry analyst Jeff Gilbert joined Audacy to explore just how dangerous the vehicles might be.
While he said there have been a number of collisions, he also said that they are “nothing serious,” with “no serious crashes” reported and “nobody hurt.”
According to the recall of 1,212 vehicles issued this Monday by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, software in the Waymo vehicles may cause them to hit roadway barriers. It said the cars crash into chains, gates and other gate-like roadway barriers, increasing the risk of injury. This software is part of Waymo’s 5th Generation Automated Driving Systems (ADS) versions released prior to last November.
“You know, the human mind sees certain things – and you think you could improve on the human mind – and sometimes you can, sometimes you can’t,” said Gilbert.
He noted that 16 collision reports are linked to the recall. Per the NHTSA release, all of the impacted vehicles’ software was updated as of last December.
“Waymo says with this recall, most of that work has already been done,” Gilbert told KCBS Radio. “So, the vehicles that you'll see on San Francisco streets will likely have the new software.”
Still, he said that safety regulators are keeping an eye on autonomous vehicles and these issues associated with the technology. In addition to San Francisco and Los Angeles, Waymo vehicles are also on the streets of Austin, Texas and Phoenix, Ariz. Gilbert said the company is also looking ot expand into other markets. Tesla is also developing autonomous vehicles, but they utilize a different type of technology.
“Waymo says they do roughly a quarter of a million paid trips every week and they’ve been successful,” he added. “Waymo, of course, closely monitors these vehicles. So far, we’ve not seen anything that has involved serious crashes. But even with a human driver, those things do happen. You’ve got to figure something is going to be inevitable.”
Gilbert said he doesn’t see traveling via Waymo to be an undue risk, but he noted that it is always a risk to get into a car. According to Waymo, its technology is actually making streets safer.
“The data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where we currently operate,” the company said. “At Waymo, we aim to reduce traffic injuries and fatalities by driving safely and responsibly, and will carefully manage risk as we scale our operations.”
However, this isn’t the first time the vehicles have been under investigation. Last year, Audacy reported that the Office of Defects Investigation said that 444 Waymo 5th generation automated driving system products were being investigated for “behavior [that] was causing single-party crashes and potential traffic safety law violations.”