In the United States, Alphabet’s Waymo, the self-driving taxi division, issued a recall affecting 444 robotic cars after two traffic incidents in December 2023 near Phoenix, Arizona. The move was reported by major news outlets and followed a preliminary assessment of the events that raised questions about how the fleet’s software handles unusual loading scenarios during vehicle tow operations.
Initial information indicates a control system responsible for navigation and trajectory planning did not fully account for the geometry of a towed vehicle when part of it remained mounted on a tow truck. This gap in perception and planning could lead to deviations from the intended path as the caravan of vehicle frames interacts with loading equipment and adjacent lanes.
The incidents occurred within minutes of one another in Phoenix, the state capital, when two Waymo vehicles collided with the same pickup truck parked at an angle relative to the tow rig. In both cases, the towed unit was positioned behind the tow vehicle, with the onboard truck slightly to the right, creating a crossing of the dividing line and an exposure to the tow path that the driverless system did not fully anticipate.
Both crashes happened at low speeds, and there were no reported injuries. Waymo stated that it had updated the fleet software in January to address the type of trajectory miscalculation involved and to minimize the risk of a repeat in similar circumstances, underscoring a proactive approach to fleet safety and operational reliability.
The security and safety implications of unmanned mobility have continued to attract attention as the technology matures. In a separate but related context, a public safety incident in San Francisco highlighted the tensions around autonomous vehicles when a group vandalized and set ablaze an unmanned Waymo taxi in Chinatown, illustrating the broader social and regulatory challenges facing driverless mobility in dense urban settings.