Waymo has issued a software program replace to its fleet of almost 4,000 automobiles to assist them keep away from flooded roads as a part of a recall introduced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Tuesday.
But the corporate hasn’t absolutely solved the issue of how its automobiles behave in these circumstances. In paperwork launched by NHTSA, the federal security regulator says Waymo remains to be “growing the ultimate treatment for this recall.”
The concern seems to be that Waymo’s robotaxis had been slowing, however not stopping, when encountering flooded roads that they might not traverse, based on NHTSA. Robotaxis utilizing each Waymo’s fifth- and sixth-generation autonomous automobile techniques are affected.
The regulator stated the recall applies to three,791 automobiles — giving us a extra up-to-date understanding of simply what number of automobiles Waymo has on the roads in round a dozen U.S. cities.
Waymo has now issued a number of remembers for its self-driving automobiles. The firm’s first recall got here in February 2024 after it found two robotaxis in Phoenix had individually crashed into the identical towed automobile. Since then, Waymo has issued remembers to repair low-speed crashes with parking gates and phone poles, in addition to to deal with unlawful driving within the neighborhood of college buses.
Waymo determined to concern the recall in late April after its robotaxis struggled to navigate flooding in central Texas; in a single incident, an empty robotaxi was swept away in San Antonio. The firm has additionally paused operations within the metropolis.
The preliminary replace despatched to its fleet locations “restrictions at occasions and in places the place there may be an elevated threat of encountering a flooded, higher-speed roadway,” based on NHTSA.
“We have recognized an space of enchancment concerning untraversable flooded lanes particular to higher-speed roadways, and have made the choice to file a voluntary software program recall with NHTSA associated to this state of affairs,” Waymo stated in a press release. “We are working to implement further software program safeguards and have put mitigations in place, together with refining our excessive climate operations in periods of intense rain, limiting entry to areas the place flash flooding may happen.”
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