Federal regulators investigating Waymo for crashes, breaking traffic safety laws

Federal regulators are investigating yet another autonomous-vehicle company that operates in San Francisco.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced Monday it is looking into Waymo’s fleet of 444 self-driving vehicles and the robotaxis’ automated driving systems after receiving 17 reports of single-vehicle crashes and five reports of possible violations of traffic-safety laws.

Eight of the 22 incidents cited in the NHTSA’s report occurred in San Francisco over a span of nearly three years.

“Reports 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,” federal regulators wrote.

“Other incidents, such as vehicles driving in opposing lanes with nearby oncoming traffic or entering construction zones, were identified based on publicly available reports,” they wrote.

Federal regulators’ initial evaluation found that Waymo’s automated driving system was either engaged throughout the accidents in question or disengaged in the moments leading up to the accidents by in-vehicle test drivers.

The NHTSA will assess the performance of Waymo’s automated driving system in the cited incidents and similar scenarios, and determine if there are any commonalities among the accidents. More broadly, federal regulators will look into how effective Waymo’s technology is in detecting and responding to traffic-control devices, as well as avoiding crashes with stationary objects and vehicles.

A Waymo spokesperson told The Examiner that the company currently serves more than 50,000 weekly trips for its riders “in some of the most challenging and complex environments.”

“We are proud of our performance and safety record over tens of millions of autonomous miles driven, as well as our demonstrated commitment to safety transparency,” the spokesperson said. “NHTSA plays a very important role in road safety and we will continue to work with them as part of our mission to become the world’s most trusted driver.”

Two of the earliest accidents cited in the NHTSA report took place in The City in August 2021, when Waymo first opened its rides up to testing with passengers. Both accidents took place in dry daytime conditions and involved the autonomous vehicles backing into parked passenger cars while navigating multi-point turns at undisclosed dead-end streets. In both cases, in-vehicle test drivers switched the robotaxis to manual mode before making contact with the parked cars.

The most recent accident took place in January during the day, but under wet road conditions.

A Waymo autonomous vehicle was at an intersection when it started driving forward while facing a red traffic light. The robotaxi detected a moped and braked. The rider of the moped braked at the same time before losing control of the vehicle and falling on the wet roadway. The moped rider slid to a stop in front of the stationary Waymo vehicle, but neither made contact with each other. No injuries were reported.

Not included in the NHTSA’s report was a February accident between a Waymo driverless car and a bicyclist in Potrero Hill . The bicyclist sustained minor injuries. A company spokesperson told The Examiner at the time that Waymo’s vehicle was driving autonomously without a human operator when the accident happened.

When asked by The Examiner about the eight accidents NHTSA regulators identified in The City, a representative with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said the department had no comment at this time.

Waymo has been steadily expanding as regulators attempt to keep watch over a burgeoning industry. Last August, the CPUC gave the company approval to start charging for rides throughout San Francisco. In March, Waymo received the green light to expand its service across the Peninsula and Los Angeles .

The CPUC did not respond to an inquiry prior to publication about whether the NHTSA’s investigation would impact the company’s permitting status.

Waymo joins a growing list of autonomous-vehicle companies under the close inspection of federal regulators.

Earlier this week, the NHTSA opened an investigation into Amazon subsidiary Zoox following reports of two collisions, one of which also occurred in San Francisco. Zoox was already being investigated by the NHTSA in a separate probe over the company’s certification that one of its vehicles meets federal safety standards.

The agency continues to investigate Cruise following an Oct. 2 accident in which one of its self-driving cars struck and dragged a pedestrian more than 20 feet. Cruise said this week it was relaunching its autonomous fleet in Arizona , but the company has yet to have its California permits reinstated .