US probes driverless cars

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened several investigations into robotaxi companies, including Waymo, Zoox and Cruise, citing reports of multiple crashes and traffic violations.

NHTSA on Monday launched a probe on Alphabet’s Waymo following 22 incidents, including 17 collisions, involving the self-driving vehicle.

The authority will investigate the performance of the automated driving system in various scenarios, potentially leading to a recall if unreasonable safety risks are found.

Waymo, which recently boasted of providing more than 50,000 weekly trips in California and Arizona, had recalled 444 vehicles due to software errors.

More probe
The NHTSA investigations are underway on Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi incidents involving sudden braking that caused motorcycle crashes.

Cruise autonomous cars are also under investigation after a woman was dragged by its driverless taxi in October last year.

However, the GM-owned robotaxis that were reduced by 50% after several accidents last year began operating regularly with human safety supervisors on board this week.

Tesla is also facing a probe over its Autopilot function. The NHTSA is also looking into the Tesla software recall.