PHOENIX — Waymo has recalled more than 600 self-driving vehicles after one of them struck a telephone pole in Arizona.
The recall includes 672 vehicles, which is the entire fleet.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in its report that last month a driverless Waymo vehicle hit a wooden utility pole in Phoenix while it was in an alleyway and trying to perform a low-speed pullover maneuver.
There were no passengers, other road users, or injuries associated with the event, the report said. There was some damage to the Waymo vehicle.
In a statement, Waymo expressed that following the incident, they filed a voluntary software recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
“We have already deployed mapping and software updates across our entire fleet, and this does not impact our current operations. As we serve more riders in more cities, we will continue our safety-first approach, working to earn trust with our riders, community members, regulators, and policymakers.”
A safety recall report from NHTSA showed Waymo made the changes between May 29 and June 6.
Andrew Maynard, a professor of advanced technology at Arizona State University said the recall shows that the technology is still learning.
“They have a technology which is amazingly safe, but it's not perfect, which means that we're still finding these incidents where the cars do things that aren't expected,” Maynard said. “At this point, the company is still trying to learn how to make it as safe as possible.”
Maynard explained that the recall meant that the cars are physically taken back to a central location where the software and the way they navigate are updated.
“These are really just very advanced computers in machines, and just like a phone, there are always constant updates where either things can be better and things can be improved, or maybe there's a glitch in the system that needs to be corrected,” Maynard said.
Elle Stevens, a student at ASU, said she’s ridden a Waymo before and wouldn’t mind riding one again.
“I'd still take another one just because it's pretty similar to a human driving or a little bit better,” Stevens said.
Mosiah Bluecloud said he had never ridden on a Waymo but noted he was still interested in exploring the option in a more cautious way.
“I think now instead of going across town, I might go maybe two miles,” Bluecloud said.
