- The NHTSA is looking into the performance of Waymo’s fifth-generation autonomous driving system.
- Vehicles have been involved in over a dozen incidents including multiple collisions.
Waymo has become the latest autonomous driving firm to find itself in the crosshairs of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. However, it’s for good reason as the Office of Defects Investigation has received reports of 22 incidents involving vehicles equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS).
That’s a lot and the government said these include “collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains, collisions with parked vehicles, and instances in which the ADS appeared to disobey traffic safety control devices.” The Office of Defects Investigation also noted some of these crashes occurred “shortly after the ADS exhibited unexpected behavior near traffic safety control devices.”
More: Waymo Issues Recall After Two Separate Vehicles Hit The Same Truck
Besides incident reports submitted by Waymo, the government revealed public reports about vehicles going off course. In particular, the government mentioned vehicles entering construction zones and driving in the wrong lane with nearby oncoming traffic.
The NHTSA added their understanding is the autonomous driving system was “engaged throughout” these incidents or “disengaged in the moments just before an incident occurred.” However, the events vary widely, so the investigation could be difficult.
Regardless, the Office of Defects Investigation has opened a preliminary evaluation to investigate the performance of the fifth-generation automated driving system. It aims to see how the technology performs at detecting and responding to traffic control devices, in avoiding collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects and vehicles, and how they perform in similar scenarios to those mentioned above. The government is also trying to pinpoint commonalities in an apparent effort to find the root cause.
No injuries were reported in any of the crashes, although the government is concerned the vehicles are exhibiting “unexpected ADS behavior.” Waymo has been relatively tight-lipped about the investigation, but told Reuters they’re “proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency.”
News of the investigation comes hot on the heels of a separate review of Zoox’s autonomous driving technology. In that case, two autonomous Toyota Highlanders were involved in collisions after they “unexpectedly braked suddenly” and were rear-ended by motorcyclists.
