Waymo recalls over 1,200 cars after crashes with road barriers

Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle division Waymo is recalling 1,212 self-driving cars – its largest recall to date – after some collided with roadway barriers.

According to Waymo, the collisions were a result of fault in how the vehicle detected or responded to objects, the news agency Reuters reported.

The company stated in a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the issue has already been resolved with a software update.

It is unclear how many vehicles were involved in crashes. Cybernews has reached out to Waymo for a statement.

In February last year, Waymo issued a voluntary recall of 444 vehicles after two of its cars collided with the same improperly towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona.

Then, in June, the company recalled 672 vehicles after one of its cars struck a wooden utility pole during a low-speed pullover maneuver, also in Phoenix.

Spun out of Google in 2016, Waymo now operates driverless ride-hailing services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin, completing hundreds of thousands of trips each week.

Earlier in April, Waymo started collecting data in Tokyo, which the company picked as its first destination for international expansion.

Also last month, it struck a “preliminary agreement” with Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, to collaborate on autonomous driving technologies.

While its fleet of self-driving cars occasionally encounters hiccups, some early studies, including from an insurance company Swiss Re, have shown that Waymo's cars are safer than human-controlled vehicles.