The nation's federal roadway regulator has launched an investigation into robotaxi operator Waymo, citing 22 incidents where the company's autonomous vehicles got into an accident or violated traffic laws, according to Bloomberg.
On Tuesday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a brief report on the Mountain View-based company, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., which showed that Waymo vehicles had been reported to have driven down the wrong side of the road, crashed into gates and collided with parked vehicles.
Of the 22 incidents listed in the report, 17 were denominated as "crashes." The report also estimates that Waymo operates 444 vehicles nationwide. Its ride-hailing services are currently available citywide in San Francisco and in certain areas of Los Angeles and the Phoenix metropolitan area.
“At Waymo we currently serve over 50 thousand weekly trips for our riders in some of the most challenging and complex environments," a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement. "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. 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.”
The NHTSA also recently launched a probe into Foster City-based Zoox, which is owned by Amazon.com Inc., after two Zoox vehicles were rear ended after abruptly breaking in traffic. The company does not currently take fares from passengers, but has been testing its vehicles in San Francisco for the past few years.
The federal regulator is also looking into GM-owned Cruise, which had its permits pulled to operate in California after misleading state regulators following an accident with a pedestrian.
