Photo Credit: Waymo
Waymo has issued a recall for its fleet of 672 driverless cars to address a software issue that makes them prone to driving into telephone poles. This decision follows a May 21 accident in Phoenix, Arizona, where a Waymo driverless car collided with a telephone pole installed within a roadway in an alley. The incident occurred while the vehicle was attempting to pull over to pick up a passenger, striking the pole at low speed.
Despite the severe damage to the car, no injuries were reported, according to documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The recall affects only the fleet of modified Jaguar I-Pace SUVs owned and operated by Waymo. The necessary corrective measure involves a software update for all 672 vehicles. The Verge was the first to report this recall.
In a statement, a Waymo spokesperson confirmed the deployment of mapping and software updates across the entire fleet, assuring that the recall does not impact current operations. “We have already deployed mapping and software updates across our entire fleet, and this does not impact our current operations,” the spokesperson said via email.
According to the documents filed with the NHTSA, Waymo identified the issue as an “[i]nsufficient ability to avoid pole or pole-like permanent objects within the drivable surface [which] may result in an increased risk of a collision.” This issue becomes particularly significant in scenarios where there are no curbs or clear road shoulders, such as alleyways where the road extends from building to building and includes poles within the roadway. In these circumstances, the vehicle might not accurately assess the
hazard posed by a pole.
To address this problem, Waymo has updated the software of its driverless vehicles to enhance their ability to recognize and avoid pole-like objects in the road. Additionally, the company has improved its maps to better define road edges, even in areas where they may not be clearly delineated.
Waymo, the autonomous vehicle subsidiary of Alphabet—Google’s parent company—currently offers driverless taxi services in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. This recall underscores the ongoing challenges and refinements necessary in the development of autonomous vehicle technology to ensure safety and reliability.
