Waymo recalls 1,200 self-driving cars after software glitch leads to collisions

Alphabet’s Waymo has issued a recall for 1,212 self-driving vehicles, following a series of collisions with chains, gates, and other roadway barriers. The recall comes after a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) investigation, which found that Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system software failed to properly detect certain obstacles.

The problem was first identified in 2022, with reports of 16 separate incidents involving Waymo vehicles crashing into stationary objects. While none of the collisions resulted in injuries, the safety board determined that the vehicles struck clearly visible barriers that a human driver would have avoided.

Waymo has since deployed a software update to correct the issue. The fix was rolled out in November 2024 and applied to all affected vehicles by December 2024. The company claims that the update has significantly reduced the likelihood of similar collisions occurring in the future.

This recall raises serious concerns about the reliability of autonomous driving technology. Waymo operates more than 1,500 self-driving vehicles across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, providing over 250,000 paid rides per week. The company plans to expand into Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., but this latest setback could slow its growth.

The NHTSA investigation remains open, with regulators continuing to assess the performance of Waymo’s automated driving system. The agency previously flagged multiple incidents where Waymo’s robotaxis exhibited behavior that violated traffic safety laws.

Waymo is not the only autonomous vehicle company facing scrutiny. General Motors’ Cruise division was forced to scale back operations after a 2023 pedestrian injury incident, and Amazon’s Zoox recently recalled 270 driverless vehicles following a crash in Las Vegas.

The future of self-driving technology depends on trust. While Waymo insists that its vehicles are making roads safer, repeated recalls and investigations suggest that the industry still has a long way to go before full autonomy can be considered reliable.

Sources:

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/14/waymo-recalls-1200-self-driving-vehicles-after-minor-collisions.html

https://www.ksl.com/article/51312654/waymo-recalls-1200-self-driving-vehicles-in-us-after-minor-collisions

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/waymo-car-recall-software-crash-self-driving/