Driverless Car Company Waymo Recalls More Than 1,200 Vehicles After Collisions

• Driverless Car Company Waymo Recalls More Than 1,200 Vehicles After Collisions

Popular robotaxi and self-driving car company Waymo has recalled 1,200 of its driverless electric vehicles after reporting crashes with certain types of road barriers.

Waymo filed a report with NHTSA (the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) saying it is aware of 16 different car collisions between 2022 and 2024, primarily with chains, gates and similar barriers. The company says it provides more than 250,000 paid taxi trips every week, and plans to expand this significantly in 2025 and 2026.

Originally, Waymo provided free software updates and repairs for affected vehicles, but has followed this with a full recall of Waymo cars with 5th Generation Automated Driving Systems and software versions released before Nov. 7, 2024.

Waymo, a car-focused division of Google's Alphabet parent company, currently offers robotaxi services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, Texas, with plans to expand into Atlanta with an Uber partnership and eventually move into Washington, DC, Miami and Tokyo in the coming years. 

The car company also announced plans in early 2025 to launch manually driven vehicle tests in 10 cities this year.

Waymo did not immediately respond to request for comment. 

For more than 10 years Tyler has used his experience in smart home tech to craft how-to guides, explainers, and recommendations for technology of all kinds. From using his home in beautiful Bend, OR as a testing zone for the latest security products to digging into the nuts and bolts of the best data privacy guidelines, Tyler has experience in all aspects of protecting your home and belongings. With a BA in Writing from George Fox and certification in Technical Writing from Oregon State University, he's ready to get you the details you need to make the best decisions for your home. On off hours, you can find Tyler exploring the Cascade trails, finding the latest brew in town with some friends, or trying a new recipe in the kitchen!