Waymo Issues ‘Recall' On Robotaxis, But That's The Wrong Word

Forbes

15-05-2025

A Waymo self-driving car is seen in the Inner Richmond neighborhood of San Francisco, California, ... More November 17, 2024. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
Waymo reported it was 'recalling' all 1,200 of their robotaxis for a software update related to a number of incidents where Waymos hit small things like chains and parking lot gate arms. None of these incidents caused significant damage, or any injuries. Often, the idea of a recall, even a voluntary one, conjures up images of exploding Pinto gas tanks or other major issues, resulting in the very expensive process of bringing every car into a shop for service. Instead, with this recall:
Several other robocar companies, including Tesla and Cruise, have also issued recall notices which also were resolved with a normal over-the-air software update. No vehicles were called back. Tesla owners all know they get regular updates, usually one a month or two, affecting the Autopilot and FSD systems in their cars. When a robotaxi project starts out, the cars will be getting updates very frequently. Test cars may get them every day at times, though updates to an entire fleet will be more rare. Updates to an entire fleet require extensive testing to assure the changes haven't caused any regression; making it worse while trying to improve it. That testing will start in simulator and then go to test cars, usually with safety drivers monitoring them.
As a system matures, updates will get less frequent. Waymo declined to answer questions about how frequent the updates are.
So why the recall? Probably because this problem had been subject to an inquiry by NHTSA, the federal safety agency. NHTSA inquiries and investigations have been tied to declaring certain software updates to be a recall, effectively answering NHTSA to say 'that's been fixed.' In one famous case, NHTSA told Tesla it was upset that Tesla FSD would make 'rolling stops' at 4-way stops, and Tesla issued a recall. After, they modified the training data for their machine learning systems to include only examples of full stops, and removed all 'California stops.' This was a major departure for NHTSA, which does not normally regulate driving behavior and rules of the road, which is the province of the state DMVs.
While NHTSA has the power to order recalls, normally companies issue voluntary recalls rather than face that. In turn, a voluntary recall is an admission that there was a problem, and a declaration that they have improved it.
Waymo declined to give more details on just what they fixed, other than to say the system is now better at detecting and handling these thin obstacles. While it's unlikely these incidents would lead to injury, it's not impossible, and all fixes are good. Waymo's published statistics, audited by SwissRe, indicate they have very few at-fault incidents causing any property damage to others. That includes breaking a parking gate, though not necessarily hitting a chain if the only damage is scratches to the Waymo.
Waymo has issued 2 other recalls. One was for the bizarre incident where two Waymos crashed with the same pickup truck being towed backwards, and a more significant incident where one hit a telephone pole in an alley. Tesla has issued 2 recalls for FSD (including the rolling stop) and one for Autopilot. Almost 40% of Teslas recalls have just been over-the-air updates. Cruise issued several recalls, including one after the dragging incident which led to the company's undoing.
NHTSA should consider creating a different vocabulary for these recalls where the vehicles are not recalled. They are best described as 'regulator prompted fixes' or perhaps simply 'significant safety fixes.'
There are interesting issues over recalls of robocars, particularly if they do require an actual return to a service center. Today, in most cases, once an automaker issues a recall, it is upon the owners to bring their car in for service. Many take a fair bit of time or never do. What happens if a robocar recall demands the vehicles cease operations? Many envision a world were a sizable proportion of the population have replaced car ownership with robotaxis. Such a recall might strand millions if not done with care. Worse, it might make those millions switch to manual driving, even if that is known to be less safe that the robocars are, even with the defect not yet fixed.