Waymo investigation overview:
- Who: The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Waymo and Zoox.
- Why: NHTSA is investigating 22 Waymo incidents and two involving Zoox-operated vehicles.
- Where: The Waymo and Zoox investigations apply to reports from across the country.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating Waymo and Zoox regarding two dozen safety incidents with their autonomous vehicles, CNN reports.
Two of the incidents involved Zoox vehicles, while the rest were with Waymo vehicles.
NHTSA’s Zoox and Waymo investigation will look into vehicles that reportedly behaved erratically, did not follow traffic safety rules or were involved in collisions.
Waymo falls under Google parent company Alphabet; Zoox is an Amazon company.
The NHTSA report says that Waymo vehicles were involved in 22 incidents — including 17 crashes — in vehicles using its 5th generation automated driving system (ADS).
The Waymo safety report shows the vehicles hit objects such as gates and parked vehicles. It also says the ADS at times disobeyed traffic lights and other safety control devices. Some of the accidents happened right after the Waymo vehicle disregarded a traffic safety control device.
Public reports showed that some Waymo vehicles drove in opposing lanes with nearby oncoming traffic or entered construction zones. Waymo had a February software recall after a report of a pair of accidents in which two separate Waymo vehicles struck the same improperly towed pickup truck on Dec. 11, 2023, in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Based on initial evaluation of these incidents, NHTSA understands that the Waymo ADS was either engaged throughout the incident or, in certain cases when supervised by an in-vehicle test driver, the ADS disengaged in the moments just before an incident occurred,” the NHTSA report says.
The NHTSA is looking for any commonalities between the Waymo safety incidents.
Highlanders using Zoox ADS had motorcycle collisions, injuries
NHTSA also says it is investigating two Zoox safety issues.
A Toyota Highlander using Zoox ADS unexpectedly braked suddenly in both incidents when a motorcycle was following the vehicle closely and a collision then occurred, NHTSA says. Both incidents led to minor injuries.
“Through its initial investigation of both incidents, ODI (Office of Defects Investigation) has confirmed that each of the Zoox vehicles was operating in autonomous mode leading up to the collision,” the Zoox safety report says.
Have you ever used a Waymo or Zoox vehicle? Let us know in the comments.
Don’t Miss Out!
Check out our list of Class Action Lawsuits and Class Action Settlements you may qualify to join!
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
One thought on Feds investigating Waymo, Zoox after dozens of safety incidents
Add me