Driverless Taxis are not appreciated by a lot of people right now, so it doesn't help when they still cause accidents until now. Even though Waymo advertises that automated vehicles are safer than human-driven ones based on data, recent incidents are starting to prove them wrong.
Two Cars Crashed Into the Same Truck
Two crash incidents are already bad enough, but if in both instances, the AVs crash into the same truck, they might have to look into the situation further. That's exactly what Waymo is doing as it voluntarily recalls the software that makes the driverless taxis work.
Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña said that the crashes were minor since there were no passengers in the robotaxis involved and the truck that was hit, but it was bad enough to warrant the first recall the company made.
Even with the recall for a software update, Peña clarified that it would not interfere with the operations of the robotaxi service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, as reported by Tech Crunch.
Both of the crashes took place on the same day as well on December 11th last year, with the company claiming that the pickup truck it hit was being "improperly towed." Due to the angled orientation of the truck, the automated taxis were not able to predict the future motion of the vehicle.
After the consecutive crashes, Waymo alerted the proper authorities including the Phoenix Police Department and the Arizona Department of Public Safety, as well as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration four days after the incident.
This wasn't the first two times that Waymo was involved in an accident either. Just last week, a Waymo taxi hit a cyclist. Still, Peña framed the voluntary recall as showing how seriously they take their responsibility for safe vehicle deployment and to "transparently communicate with the public."
Even with the voluntary recall, it's unlikely that it will reduce the pressure that automated taxi operations are feeling right now. If the company is not careful or does not meet the standards that are set by agencies and consumers, it might end up like Cruise.
The Public Already Expressed Their Disapproval
People have already made clear how they feel about driverless taxis by vandalizing a Waymo robotaxi two days ago. At first, the vehicle's windshield was smashed by civilians which gained applause from the surrounding crowd.
It was then that others participated in defacing the robotaxi by covering it in spray paint until it ultimately escalated to having its windows broken and being set on fire using fireworks. Firefighters eventually arrived to put the fire out, but by then the vehicle was basically destroyed.
It's still unknown what prompted the vandalism, but as reported by The Verge, it could be due to the general hate that San Francisco citizens have towards AVs, especially after the incidents with Cruise that were allegedly downplayed by the company.
There have already been several cases where driverless taxis have disrupted traffic and caused accidents that resulted in injury. Other than Waymo hitting a towed car and a cyclist, Cruise was also suspended following the vehicular accident that led to a pedestrian being dragged for a few meters.
