Waymo: Incidents and Probes

Waymo now carries out 50,000 trips per week in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin, with more than one million trips completed to date. This has also led to an increase in incidents, such as an accident on the 10 Freeway in Los Angeles. The Waymo was rammed from behind by another car, as can be seen in this TV report.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also launched investigations into 22 incidents involving 17 collisions, as reported by Reuters. Some of the incidents appear to have disobeyed traffic laws or exhibited odd behavior. The list of incidents, which occurred over a 3-year period, shows that they appear to have been mostly minor traffic violations, such as hitting a fence or touching debris. In 11 of these incidents, there were passengers in the car.

Here is the list:

• On February [XXX], 2024 at 1:42 AM MT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (“Waymo AV”) operating in Phoenix, Arizona was in a collision involving debris on [XXX] towards [XXX].
• On February [XXX], 2024 at 10:01 PM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (“Waymo AV”) operating in Los Angeles, California was in a collision involving a gate at [XXX] and [XXX].
• On January [XXX], 2024 at 8:03 AM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Scottsdale, Arizona was in a collision involving an automatic gate in an apartment complex parking lot entrance on [XXX] near [XXX].
• On January [XXX], 2024 at 4:50 PM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Phoenix, Arizona was in an event involving a rock in the road on [XXX] past [XXX].
• On January [XXX], 2024 at 12:35 PM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Gilbert, Arizona was in an event involving parking lot spikes at a parking lot entrance on [XXX] near [XXX].
• This report includes the following updates to the initial report submitted on January 14, 2024 [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION]: corrected event year in the narrative from 2023 to 2024 LOCATION ADDRESS / DESCRIPTION field updated to reflect the location listed in the narrative clarifications added to the narrative and correction to the Waymo AVs mileage. The remainder is unchanged from the initial report.
• On January [XXX], 2023 at 10:52AM PT a rider of a moped lost control of the moped they were operating and fell and slid in front of a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (“Waymo AV”) operating in San Francisco, California on [XXX] at [XXX] neither the moped nor its driver made contact with the Waymo AV.
• On November [XXX] , 2023 at 10:09 AM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Tempe, Arizona was in a collision involving a chain in a parking lot at [XXX].
• On October [XXX], 2023 at 1:29 PM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Phoenix, Arizona was in a collision involving an automatic gate in a parking lot driveway at Central High School.
• On October [XXX], 2023 at 6:53 PM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Phoenix, Arizona experienced underbody damage in a construction zone on [XXX] near [XXX].
• On July [XXX], 2023 at 11:11 AM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in San Francisco, California was in a collision involving an SUV on [XXX] east of [XXX].
• On[XXX], 2023 at 8:48 PM PT a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in San Francisco, California was in a collision involving a passenger vehicle on [XXX] at [XXX}.
• On March [XXX], 2023 at 8:27 PM PST a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in San Francisco was in a collision involving a fixed object on [XXX] near [XXX].
• On February [XXX], 2023 at 5:43 AM PST a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (“Waymo AV”) operating in San Francisco, California was in a collision involving road debris on [XXX] at [XXX].
• Other than the updated Speed Limit field, the content of this report is unchanged from the initial report submitted on December 5, 2022 [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION].
• On December [XXX], 2022 at 9:05 PM PST a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (Waymo AV) operating in Phoenix, Arizona was in a collision involving a fixed object in a parking lot on the 4100 block of [XXX].
• On September [XXX], 2021 at 1:56 AM PDT, a Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (‘Waymo AV’) operating in San Francisco was in a collision involving an unoccupied parked passenger vehicle at the north end of [XXX] (a dead-end road).
• Other than the addition of the zip code in which the incident occurred, the content of this report is unchanged from the initial report submitted on September [XXX], 2021 [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION]. On August [XXX], 2021 at 5:41 PM PDT, Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (“Waymo AV”) operating in San Francisco was in a collision involving an unoccupied parked passenger vehicle at [XXX]. While performing a multipoint turn at the north end of [XXX] (a dead-end road), the Waymo AV was in reverse at approximately 2 MPH when it made contact with the front driver’s side door of an unoccupied parked passenger vehicle. The Waymo AV was in autonomous mode until just before making contact, when the test driver transitioned the Waymo AV into manual mode. The contact caused minor scuffing and a small dent in the door handle of the parked vehicle’s driver door and minor damage to the plastic sensor housing on the Waymo AV’s rear passenger’s side.Waymo is reporting this crash under Request No. 1 of Standing General Order 2021-01 because the Waymo AV was towed from the scene (though the Waymo AV was driveable). Waymo may supplement or correct its reporting with additional information as it may become available. This report was submitted from the Pacific time zone on the required date.
• On August [XXX], 2021 at 5:41 PM PDT, Waymo Autonomous Vehicle (‘Waymo AV’) operating in San Francisco was in a collision involving an unoccupied parked passenger vehicle at [XXX]. While performing a multipoint turn at the north end of [XXX] (a dead-end road), the Waymo AV was in reverse at approximately 2 MPH when it made contact with the front driver’s side door of an unoccupied parked passenger vehicle. The Waymo AV was in autonomous mode until just before making contact, when the test driver transitioned the Waymo AV into manual mode. The contact caused minor scuffing and a small dent in the door handle of the parked vehicle’s driver door and minor damage to the plastic sensor housing on the Waymo AV’s rear passenger’s side.

The DMV in California keeps its own list of incidents involving autonomous cars.

This article was also published in German.