Waymo, the self-driving taxi service owned by Google’s parent company, is recalling 1,212 vehicles operating in San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin after they repeatedly collided with gates, chains and other roadside barriers.
The voluntary recall, which the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) publicized Wednesday, covers cars running Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving code and follows a federal investigation opened last year into a series of low-speed barrier crashes. The recall coincides with NHTSA’s letter to Tesla expressing concern over Robotaxis’ ability to manage uncommon roadway hazards. (RELATED: ‘Explain How’: Feds Demand Answers From Tesla Over Austin ‘Robotaxi’ Launch)
“Waymo provides more than 250,000 paid trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments in the U.S.,” the company told the Daily Caller News Foundation, adding they plan to “work collaboratively” with NHTSA. “We hold ourselves to a high safety standard, and our record of reducing injuries over tens of millions of fully autonomous miles driven shows our technology is making roads safer.”
The Waymo Driver is making roads safer for everyone, especially pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users. 🚙 Check out our latest research study across 56.7 million miles to see how Waymo is improving safety for those most at risk. https://t.co/UmtbF4yTYp pic.twitter.com/2FKKj53Gfn
— Waymo (@Waymo) May 1, 2025
NHTSA’s probe began after seven taxis struck road barriers between December 2022 and April 2024. Waymo later disclosed nine additional similar collisions, bringing the total to 16 — none resulting in injuries, agency files show. Investigators said several incidents involved objects that “a competent driver would be expected to avoid.” The evaluation remains ongoing.
Waymo told regulators it pushed a fleetwide over-the-air patch in November and finished installations a month later, significantly cutting the risk of hitting gate-like obstacles, according to the recall report. (RELATED: Bodycam Shows Driverless SUV Pulled Over By Arizona Police After Driving Into Opposite Lane)
While the recall targets cars on the older software, Waymo said its sixth-generation stack now runs on more than 1,500 commercial taxis and that service expansions remain on track.
Waymo has previously issued two software recalls — 444 vehicles in February 2024 over misjudging a backwards-facing towed truck and 672 in June after a taxi hit a utility pole — adding to a series of government reviews that also ensnared General Motors’ Cruise and Amazon’s Zoox, two rival autonomous taxi services.