SAN FRANCISCO, June 24 (San Francisco News Online) — Waymo has filed a voluntary recall covering 3,871 vehicles equipped with its fifth-generation automated driving system after federal regulators said the software could let some vehicles enter a closed freeway construction zone and keep driving, including incidents in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in the recall report that driving through a closed construction zone increases the risk of a crash. The agency identified the campaign as 26E035000.
Waymo said the remedy is still being developed. In the meantime, the company said it has changed how the vehicles operate so they do not drive on freeways while the software is being updated.
The recall is national in scope and applies to vehicles in the United States that use Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system. Waymo said the software update will be provided free of charge once it is ready.
The federal filing reviewed a series of incidents before the recall was filed. Those included one event on April 11 in Phoenix, five events on April 19 in Phoenix and seven events on May 18 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In the Phoenix cases, the filing said vehicles drove past ramp closure signs and into pre-planned freeway construction zones. In the Bay Area incidents, the filing said seven vehicles entered active freeway construction lanes by driving between cones.
Waymo said it has not reported any collisions or injuries from the incidents reviewed in the filing.
The company also said it had already limited freeway operations last month while it worked on changes, and that it notified state and federal regulators as it prepared the recall filing.
Waymo said it has identified an area for improvement in how the system performs near freeway construction sites. The company said it continues to carry passengers on surface streets in the cities where it operates.
For San Francisco and the broader Bay Area, the recall puts a local set of freeway incidents at the center of a nationwide safety action. The filing says the software update is intended to improve the vehicles’ ability to detect construction zones and avoid entering them.
NHTSA published the manufacturer report on the recall after Waymo submitted it, and the company said the fix will remain under development until the update is completed.
