(Reuters) -Alphabet’s Waymo is recalling a majority of its self-driving vehicles due to a software glitch after some cars collided with roadway barriers, the company said on Wednesday.
The recall affects 1,212 Waymo vehicles operating on the company’s older fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS) software.
Waymo has over 1,500 vehicles on the road across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin.
The affected vehicles, some of which collided with chains, gates and other gate-like barriers, did not result in any injuries, Waymo said in a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The issue has been fixed with its latest sixth-generation self-driving software, Waymo said, adding that it had deployed its latest ADS software version across its entire fleet by the end of December.
Self-driving vehicle companies, including Waymo and General Motors’ Cruise, have come under increased regulatory scrutiny following a 2023 incident where a pedestrian was seriously injured by a Cruise vehicle.
Waymo recalled over 670 vehicles last June after one of them struck a wooden utility pole in Phoenix, Arizona in May.
That recall came after an NHTSA investigation into Waymo following 22 reports of Waymo’s robotaxis exhibiting driving behavior that potentially violated traffic safety laws, or demonstrating other “unexpected behavior,” including 17 collisions.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)
