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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that self-driving car companies Waymo and Zoox are under federal investigation for their involvement in traffic violations and crashes.
NHTSA, part of the U.S. Department of Transportation, said its Office of Defect Investigations (ODI) “received reports of 22 accidents involving Waymo vehicles equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS).”
The report lists 17 collisions with gates, chains, parked cars, etc., as well as “incidents where ADS appears to have failed to comply with traffic safety control devices.” In some cases, vehicles were reported to be “driving in oncoming traffic with nearby oncoming vehicles or entering construction zones,” according to ODI.
“This study will evaluate the performance of ADS in detecting and responding to traffic control devices and avoiding collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles,” ODI’s document said.
Waymo self-driving car collides with cyclist in San Francisco
Footage shared on Waymo’s media resources page shows the vehicle driving through a San Francisco street. The company says on its website that its drivers are “never drunk, tired or distracted.” (Waymo)
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alphabet Co., Ltd. | 172.85 | +0.92 | +0.54% | |
Earlier this month, a video went viral showing a Waymo driving the wrong way down a busy road in Tempe, Arizona. It showed one of the company’s vehicles, owned by Alphabet Inc., pulling out of a parking lot, veering into oncoming traffic on a rural road near U.S. 60 and passing the person filming it.
The Tempe Police Department told FOX Business it was aware of the video and urged drivers to “remain vigilant and police all driving (whether self-driving or human-driven).” He encouraged them to report to the public. Police also said Waymo has procedures in place for when officers need to conduct a traffic stop on a vehicle.
“Autonomous vehicles are subject to all city and state traffic laws,” Tempe PD said in an email.
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A Waymo self-driving car drives down Masonic Avenue in San Francisco on April 11, 2022. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images/Getty Images)
In March, Waymo began offering self-driving services to employees in Austin, Texas, making it the fourth major self-driving ride-hailing city after San Francisco, Phoenix, and Los Angeles.
NHTSA also received notification of two crashes involving Amazon-owned Zoox autonomous ride-hailing vehicles. In both cases, a Toyota Highlander equipped with Zoox ADS “unexpectedly braked suddenly,” causing the following motorcycle to collide with the Zoox vehicle, NHTSA said. Both crashes resulted in minor injuries and an investigation has now been launched into 500 Zoox vehicles.
| ticker | safety | last | change | change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | Amazon.com Inc. | 185.34 | -1.73 | -0.92% |
A Zoox vehicle on the road (provided on the company’s press website). (Zooks)
A Zoox spokesperson told Reuters the company was considering the request for information, but did not provide additional details about the incident.
“Transparency and cooperation with regulators are of paramount importance, and we remain committed to working closely with NHTSA to answer their questions,” the statement said.
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Zoox announced in March that it was expanding testing of its vehicles in California and Nevada to focus on driving in larger areas, at higher speeds and at night. Amazon acquired Zoox in 2020 for $1.3 billion.
Reuters contributed to this report.
