Regulators Probe Alphabet's Waymo After 22 Self-Driving Car Incidents
By Dean Seal
Federal auto-safety regulators are looking into Waymo, Google parent Alphabet's self-driving car startup, following 22 reported incidents involving the unit's automated driving system.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has received reports of 22 incidents in which vehicles equipped with Waymo's fifth-generation automated driving system, or ADS, were involved in a single-vehicle collision or exhibited behavior that potentially broke traffic safety laws.
Reports include collisions with stationary or semi-stationary objects, such as gates, chains or parked vehicles, according to the regulator. In some incidents, the collision occurred shortly after the ADS showed unexpected behavior near traffic safety control devices.
"Based on initial evaluation of these incidents, NHTSA understands that the Waymo ADS was either engaged throughout the incident or, in certain cases when supervised by an in-vehicle test driver, the ADS disengaged in the moments just before an incident occurred," the report said.
Certain collision incidents were reported directly by Waymo while others, including when automated vehicles drove in opposing lanes against oncoming traffic or when entering construction zones, were identified based on publicly available reports, NHTSA said.
NHTSA said it has opened a preliminary investigation into the 22 incidents, 17 of which involved crashes or fires. No injuries or fatalities have been reported.
Write to Dean Seal at dean.seal@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 14, 2024 07:33 ET (11:33 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2024 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.-
These Stocks Are (Still) Powering the Bull Market
-
5 Undervalued Energy Stocks to Play the AI Data Center Demand Boom
-
After Earnings, Is Lowe’s Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
5 Stocks With the Largest Fair Value Estimate Cuts After Q1 Earnings
-
10 Stocks With the Largest Fair Value Estimate Increases After Q1 Earnings
-
Markets Brief: Inflation Back in the Spotlight
-
AI Is Booming, but Consumer Spending Is Slowing. Which Will Prevail in the Stock Market?
-
What’s Happening In the Markets This Week
-
3 Dividend Stocks for June 2024
-
After Earnings, Is Alibaba Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
MongoDB Earnings: Slashing Valuation as Execution and Macro to Blame for Lower Guidance
-
Marvell Earnings: We Raise Our Medium-Term AI Forecast and Bring Our Valuation Up to $75
-
Zscaler Earnings: Impressive Traction in Emerging Products Drives Sales Growth for the Quarter
-
Dell Earnings: Raising Valuation on Strong AI, but the Stock Remains Severely Overvalued
-
After Earnings, Is Nvidia Stock a Buy, Sell, or Fairly Valued?
-
The 10 Best Companies to Invest in Now