After the autonomous vehicle accident, Alphabet's Waymo was investigated by the US.
Zhitong Finance learned that the top automobile safety regulator in the US has launched an investigation into Waymo, an autonomous vehicle subsidiary under Alphabet (GOOGL.US). Previously, the company's cars had 22 collisions or accidents that may have violated traffic regulations. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Defect Investigation Office carried out a preliminary assessment after receiving reports of Waymo vehicles crashing into objects such as gates and parked vehicles. The agency also cited other examples where the company's autonomous driving system appeared to violate traffic control devices.
NHTSA said its initial assessment showed that Waymo's system was either working throughout the entire time the accident occurred or was idle the moment before testing the driver in the car. According to documents published on Tuesday on the agency's website, the investigation involved about 444 cars.
Waymo said in a statement that the company is “proud of our performance and safety record in tens of millions of miles of autonomous driving and our commitment to safety transparency.” The company promised to cooperate with NHTSA in the latest investigation.
NHTSA has been scrutinizing driver-assistance systems and more advanced autonomous vehicles. Since last month, it has investigated Tesla Corporation (TSLA.US) Autopilot, Ford Motor Company (F.US) BlueCruise, and Amazon (AMZN.US) Zoox. NHTSA also investigated possible flaws in the autonomous driving system developed by Cruise, an autonomous driving division under General Motors (GM.US), in October last year.