Driverless cars recalled after two vehicles crash into towed truck

Waymo has been forced to update software following an incident in Arizona

A self-driving car business owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet has been forced to update its software for the first time after two of its vehicles hit a pickup truck.
Waymo has issued a recall of its driverless taxi technology for the first time after two of its vehicles hit the same truck that was in the process of being towed away in Arizona.
The incident happened on December 11 when a tow truck was pulling a pickup truck, which was facing backwards and angling across two lanes. A first Waymo car hit the vehicle but the pickup driver did not stop, before another Waymo car crashed into the same vehicle a few minutes later.
The driverless cars had no passengers and the crashes resulted in “minor vehicle damage” and no injuries.
Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, said the unusual situation meant the company’s autonomous vehicle software incorrectly predicted the vehicle’s movement.
He said: “We determined that due to the persistent orientation mismatch of the towed pickup truck and tow truck combination, the Waymo Autonomous Vehicle incorrectly predicted the future motion of the towed vehicle.”
Waymo said its driverless car fleet’s software had been updated since the issue emerged. It had reported the issue voluntarily to US transport regulators and continued to offer rides.
The crashes come amid mounting tensions in the US over the expansion of driverless taxi services, which see self-driving cars hailed over a smartphone app.
Local residents in areas where self-driving cars have been rolled out have grown frustrated at the cars making sometimes bizarre driving decisions, which can cause traffic jams. Others object to having their cities used as a testing ground for the new technology.
Cruise, the driverless car company owned by General Motors, suspended all its robotaxi services in October after a woman was trapped under one of its cars.
A woman was hit by another car, which flung her into the path of one of the driverless taxis. The autonomous vehicle then dragged her further under its wheels, before coming to a stop on top of the woman.
Some locals in San Francisco have taken to disrupting driverless cars by planting traffic cones on them, which confuses the vehicle’s sensors.
On Saturday, a Waymo car was set on fire in the city’s Chinatown district, with people jumping up and down on the bonnet of the Jaguar I-pace vehicle.