ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Waymo is recalling thousands of its robotaxis to fix a software glitch that could allow the vehicles to drive onto a flooded road.
The voluntary recall affects 3,791 Waymo vehicles equipped with the Alphabet Inc. company’s fifth- and sixth-generation automated-driving system.
After welcoming over 150,000 riders from an initial interest list in Miami and Orlando, the self-driving ride hailing service opened in the City Beautiful back in April.
The voluntary recall does not mean those Waymo cars come off the roads, but the company did have to notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration about the software glitch, an interim fix, and a long-term solution.
The recall comes after an unoccupied Waymo robotaxi entered a flooded roadway during a period of heavy rain in San Antonio and was then pulled into an active waterway and swept away, the San Antonio Express-News reported.
The April 20 incident occurred when a robotaxi was overtaken by Salado Creek floodwaters, the newspaper reported. Crews recovered the vehicle four days later along the Greenway Trail system near Pletz County Park.
The glitches caused Waymo to temporarily pause its operations in San Antonio.
In a letter posted on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, Waymo described the problem, stating “The software may allow the vehicle to slow and then drive into standing water on higher speed roadways.”
According to the company, a remedy is being developed now, but in the interim, “Waymo modified the scope of vehicle operations to increase weather related constraints and updated the vehicle maps.”
All affected vehicles received the interim update by April 20th.
“I was totally confident on a sunny Orlando morning to ride a couple of miles in a Waymo,” said Toronto resident Mark Richardson who took a Waymo for the first time Wednesday.
Despite the nationwide recall, Richardson said he was eager to get into the driverless car for a short trip from his hotel to the Orange County Convention Center.
“I really enjoyed it. I’ve been looking forward to it. It’s something that I think is part of the future of transportation,” said Richardson.
As an I-T consultant who lives and breathes technology, Richardson told Channel 9 he wasn’t fazed by the recall and trusted regulators would not allow an unsafe product to be on the roads.
Channel 9 spoke to personal injury Attorney Andew Pickett, who has closely followed the roll-out of autonomous vehicles.
Pickett explained Waymo is required to report incidents to the NHTSA who then investigates and publishes data.
“They’ll do an investigation. They’ll make a conclusion. They will determine whether Waymo was liable. And then I think if appropriate, restrict access as needed,” said Pickett.
While Pickett believes autonomous cars will make the roads safer in the long run, he believes the recall raises important concerns.
“They [Waymo] are kind of self-policing to hopefully get ahead of the issue. But the fact that this issue exists, I think, should raise some questions,” Pickett said.
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