Waymo recalls 1,200 self-driving cars prone to hitting road barriers

Waymo, the ride-hailing service owned by Google-parent Alphabet, has recalled 1,212 of its driverless cars over faulty software that causes them to crash into chains, gates and other roadway barriers.

"A vehicle that crashes into chains, gates or other gate-like roadway barriers increases the risk of injury," the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states in a recall notice posted Monday.

The recall affects Waymo vehicles equipped with its fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS) and follows an investigation opened a year ago by NHTSA that cited 16 reports of "collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains" between December 2022 and 2024.

No injuries as a result of the faulty software were reported.

As a remedy, Waymo released software in November 2024 that "significantly reduced the likelihood of collisions with chains, gates, and other gate-like roadway barriers," the recall states. All affected vehicles are owned by the driverless taxi company, which says it deployed the new software across its entire fleet by December 26, 2024.

Recently featured on CBS Sunday Morning, Waymo offers fully autonomous rides in several major cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix and Austin, Texas. The company plans to expand to a dozen more cities, CBS News Boston recently reported.

NHTSA's number for the recall is 25E-034.