NHTSA Concludes Investigation into Waymo's Self-Driving Cars

According to Reuters, on July 25, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that it has concluded its 14-month investigation into Waymo, the self-driving subsidiary of Alphabet, without taking further action. The investigation focused on several minor collision incidents and unusual driving behaviors of Waymo vehicles. NHTSA initiated the investigation in May 2024 after receiving 22 accident reports, including 17 collision reports that highlighted several issues: potential violations of traffic safety regulations by Waymo vehicles, abnormal responses of the autonomous driving system to traffic control devices, and operational flaws when vehicles entered construction zones. NHTSA pointed out that several accidents involved collisions with clearly visible objects, where qualified drivers should have taken evasive action. Upon concluding the investigation, NHTSA mentioned two recalls initiated by Waymo and analyzed existing data. One recall was due to a vehicle hitting a utility pole in 2024, and the other was a May recall where over 1,200 self-driving vehicles were updated via software to improve their recognition and avoidance capabilities of obstacles such as chains and gates crossing the road. On July 25, a Waymo spokesperson stated, 'Waymo has always prioritized safety, and we are pleased that NHTSA has concluded the investigation and officially closed the case.' Currently, Waymo has deployed over 1,500 self-driving cars in cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, Texas, providing more than 250,000 paid self-driving taxi services weekly. The company plans to expand its self-driving taxi service to New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C., and last month partnered with Uber to launch self-driving taxi services in Atlanta. Following a serious pedestrian injury incident involving Cruise autonomous vehicles in 2023, self-driving companies like Waymo and Cruise are facing increasingly stringent regulatory scrutiny. General Motors has significantly reduced its funding for Cruise and integrated its operations into the overall GM structure.