Hundreds of self-driving cars investigated over disregarding traffic rules
Google’s robot taxis are to be investigated by American regulators amid claims the self-driving cars flouted traffic laws.
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday said its investigation would look at 444 vehicles owned by Waymo, a subsidiary of Google’s parent Alphabet.
It follows reports of 22 incidents, including 17 collisions, which included behaviour that potentially broke traffic laws, the regulator said.
In some of those cases, Waymo’s cars appeared to disobey “traffic safety control devices” – which can include street signs, traffic signals and road markings – and crashes happened after the vehicles “exhibited unexpected behaviour”, the NHTSA added.
Other reports included collisions with objects such as gates and chains, or crashes involving parked vehicles, while there were examples of vehicles “driving in opposing lanes with nearby oncoming traffic or entering construction zones”.
The move is the latest step taken by the regulator amid safety fears about driverless cars.
It has also launched similar investigations into rival driverless car firms Cruise and Zoox, which are owned by General Motors and Amazon respectively.
In February, Waymo recalled 444 self-driving vehicles following two collisions in quick succession in Arizona.
The company blamed a software error which it said could cause the cars to inaccurately predict the movement of a towed vehicle.
Separately, electric car maker Tesla was forced to issue software updates to more than two million cars to prevent drivers abusing its Autopilot system.
That followed hundreds of crashes which happened while drivers were using the technology, some of them fatal.
Following a two-year investigation, the NHTSA said in December that Tesla would make changes amid concerns that motorists were not paying attention to the road when the system was activated.
The regulator’s investigation into Waymo is the first part in a process that could eventually lead to a recall, should officials decide the vehicles pose an unreasonable risk to safety.
Waymo did not comment on the safety incidents but said it would cooperate with the NHTSA.
It added it was “proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency”.
