The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Monday it has opened a preliminary investigation into about 2,000 self-driving vehicles operated by Waymo after reports that the company’s autonomous taxis may have failed to comply with traffic safety laws near stopped school buses.
The inquiry, led by NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation, follows a media report describing an incident in which a Waymo vehicle allegedly failed to remain stationary when approaching a school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended. According to the report, the autonomous vehicle initially stopped beside the bus but then maneuvered around its front, passing the stop arm while students were disembarking.
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NHTSA said the vehicle involved was equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation Automated Driving System (ADS) and was operating without a human safety driver at the time of the event. The agency is assessing whether similar incidents have occurred and whether the behavior presents a potential safety risk.
A Waymo spokesperson said the company has “already developed and implemented improvements related to stopping for school buses and will land additional software updates in our next software release.” The spokesperson added that “driving safely around children has always been one of Waymo’s highest priorities,” explaining that in the cited incident, the vehicle “approached the school bus from an angle where the flashing lights and stop sign were not visible and drove slowly around the front of the bus before driving past it, keeping a safe distance from children.”
See also: Waymo Says LiDAR And Radar Remain Crucial As It Experiments With Generative AI
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, operates a fleet of more than 1,500 autonomous vehicles across several U.S. cities, including Phoenix, San Francisco, Denver, Los Angeles and Austin. The company has also announced plans to expand internationally, with operations expected to launch in Tokyo and London in the coming years.
Source: Reuters
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