Waymo robotaxis have been offering public rides in Austin, Texas since March, and following security incidents with college buses, Austin college district officers have requested the corporate to cease providing robotaxi rides throughout college drop-off occasions.
Now, regulators on the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) are investigating Waymo over complaints that its robotaxis have illegally handed college buses at the very least 19 occasions, in line with Reuters.
The NHTSA despatched a letter to Waymo earlier this week informing the corporate in regards to the starting of its inquiry regarding its autonomous automobiles’ incapability to comply with visitors legal guidelines regarding college buses. The letter additionally requested further details about the corporate’s self-driving system.
An preliminary investigation was opened into Waymo in October by the NHTSA’s Workplace of Defects Investigation (ODI) after it obtained video of a Waymo robotaxi driving round a faculty bus in Atlanta because the automobile was unloading schoolchildren with its cease signal prolonged and flashing lights on. Now the company goes even additional in its inquiry.
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Waymo stated it launched a software program repair to the problem on November 17. Nonetheless, in a public letter, the Austin Unbiased Faculty District says that 5 of the 19 college bus-related Waymo incidents occurred after that date.
“Certainly one of these violations underscores the pressing danger posed by Waymo’s criminality: a Waymo automated automobile was recorded driving previous a stopped college bus solely moments after a scholar crossed in entrance of the automobile, and whereas the scholar was nonetheless within the street,” the Austin Faculty District wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to Waymo. “The automobile then proceeds via a cross stroll and an intersection, the place all different automobiles are stopped.”
The Austin Faculty District requests that Waymo cease working its robotaxis from 5:20 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., the hours when kids are sometimes being picked up and dropped off earlier than and after college.
The ODI despatched its personal letter to Waymo shortly after, letting the corporate comprehend it was conscious of the problem and inquiring if Waymo was planning to abide by the request to stop operations throughout these occasions.
In response to a report by TechCrunch, Waymo insists that its replace has improved its robotaxis’ street issues of safety round college buses. Nonetheless, it doesn’t look like the corporate plans to oblige the Austin Faculty District’s request.
