PHOENIX — Waymo is issuing a recall for the first time due to a software concern after two of its self-driving vehicles hit the same pickup truck that was being towed.
Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, said that the recall potentially involves 444 autonomous vehicles.
The company said that the incidents occurred in Phoenix, in December, prior to a software update release.
On Dec. 11, a Waymo vehicle struck a pickup truck being towed backwards across the middle turn lane and right travel lane. A few minutes later, a second Waymo vehicle made contact with the same pickup truck.
The company said that their vehicles were traveling at low relative speeds during the incidents and that there were no injuries.
Waymo had ongoing discussions with the National Highway Safety Transportation Administration about the incidents and updated the software in all affected vehicles between Dec. 20,2023 and Jan. 12, 2024.
In May Waymo announced that its robotaxis would be able to carry passengers through most of the Phoenix area for the first time. The company's vehicles began giving rides to fare-paying passengers in the Phoenix area in late 2020.
It's not the first time in recent memory a crash has forced an autonomous vehicle company to issue a recall.
General Motors' Cruise autonomous vehicle unit recalled all 950 of its cars to update software after one of them dragged a pedestrian to the side of a San Francisco street in early October.
The company said in documents posted by U.S. safety regulators that with the updated software, Cruise vehicles will remain stationary should a similar incident occur in the future.
The Oct. 2 crash prompted Cruise to suspend driverless operations nationwide after California regulators found that its cars posed a danger to public safety. The state's Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the license for Cruise, which was transporting passengers without human drivers throughout San Francisco.