Waymo News

Safety Probe Into Waymo Self-Driving Vehicles Finds More Incidents

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday it has learned of nine additional incidents that raise concerns about the performance of Alphabet’s Waymo self-driving vehicles. Earlier this month, the U.S. auto safety regulator opened an investigation after 22 reports …

Waymo’s Robotaxi Expands into Los Angeles, Starting Free Rides in Parts of City

Robotaxis will begin cruising the streets of Los Angeles this week when Google spinoff Waymo starts offering free rides to some of the roughly 50,000 people who have signed up for its driverless ride-hailing service. Waymo is expanding into Los …

Waymo Recalls 444 Self-Driving Vehicles Over Software Error

Alphabet’s Waymo unit has recalled 444 self-driving vehicles after two minor collisions in quick succession in Arizona because a software error could result in them inaccurately predicting the movement of a towed vehicle. All of the vehicles are in the …

New Study Says Autonomous Vehicles Significantly Reduce BI/PD Claims

A new study has revealed that autonomous-vehicle technology reduced bodily injury claims frequency by 100% and property damage claims frequency by 76%. Global reinsurer Swiss Re and automated driving company Waymo partnered on the study. The two compared Waymo’s third-party …

California Allows Cruise, Waymo Autonomous Vehicle Passenger Service

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Monday issued permits to self-driving units of General Motors and Alphabet Inc. to allow for passenger service in autonomous vehicles with safety drivers present. CPUC said the GM unit Cruise and Alphabet’s Waymo …

Can a Self-Driving 40-Ton Truck Be Safe? Developers Say Yes But Others Are Skeptical.

Shipping companies and software developers are experimenting with self-driving trucks as a way to solve a driver shortage worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic, drawing fire from safety advocates who call the technology a risk to motorists. J.B. Hunt Transport Services …

GM, Alphabet Win California’s First Autonomous Permits for Passenger Rides

General Motors Co.’s Cruise and Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo self-driving car subsidiaries on Thursday became the first companies to receive autonomous vehicle permits to offer rides to passengers in California. Cruise has obtained a permit from the California Department of Motor …

Waymo in California Getting $2.5B to Fuel Self-Driving Ambitions

Waymo, the self-driving car pioneer spun off from Google, isn’t allowing a recent wave of executive departures to detour its plans to expand its robotic taxi service. The Mountain View, California, company made that clear Wednesday by announcing it has …

Waymo, J.B. Hunt to Test Self-Driving Trucks in Texas

U.S. truck fleet operator J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and autonomous vehicle technology company Waymo will test human-supervised, self-driving trucks to deliver cargo between Houston and Fort Worth, Texas, expanding an existing relationship. The test comes as trucking companies are …

Labor Leader Urges U.S. to Require Human Drivers in Automated Vehicles

A senior American labor union leader will tell U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday that the government should require human operators in all self-driving passenger services to take over in the event of an emergency. Greg Regan, president of the Transportation Trades …