Waymo Is Trying to Crack Down on Solo Kids in Driverless Cars
Waymo has recalled its fleet of nearly 4,000 robotaxis to restrict them from driving on highways while it figures out how to make the vehicles behave around construction zones. The recall comes after Waymo identified at least 13 instances of its robotaxis driving into highway sections that were closed for construction. Six of these happened in Phoenix, Arizona in April, and seven occurred in San Francisco, California in May. Waymo pulled its robotaxis from all highways on May 19, and a fix for the problem is “currently under development,” according to filings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The company is not pulling vehicles off the road and is still operating on surface streets, though the company has periodically paused service during severe weather that could lead to flooding. “We identified an area of improvement regarding performance around freeway construction zones,” the company said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We voluntarily restricted freeway operations last month while making improvements, proactively notified state and federal regulators, and decided to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA.” This is the sixth recall Waymo has issued for its robotaxis. In May, the company recalled its robotaxis after they drove into flooded roads, and in December, it issued one to address its vehicles’ illegal behavior around school buses. Waymo has previously issued recalls to fix low-speed collisions with chains and gates and telephone poles, and one to solve a problem regarding towed trucks. The company’s driving software is currently under investigation by the NHTSA and National Transportation Safety Board regarding its behavior around school buses after one of its robotaxis struck a child near a school in January. Alphabet-owned Waymo says its vehicles have driven more than 170 million miles autonomously, and claims they have demonstrated a 13x reduction in serious-injury-or-worse crashes when compared to human drivers. The robotaxi company is in the middle of a massive expansion, planning to launch in more than 20 cities this year alone, including in London and Tokyo. The expansion has helped highlight a number of edge cases that Waymo’s robotaxi software has struggled with, which now includes highway construction zones. Waymo, which started offering highway rides in November 2025, told the NHTSA that its robotaxis “did not recognize and drove past ramp closure signs into pre-planned freeway construction zones” in mid-April in Phoenix. After a review, the company’s “Field Safety Committee” restricted freeway operations in the city while Waymo worked on a fix, the NHTSA documents show. On May 18, seven Waymo robotaxis drove into highway lanes under active construction in the San Francisco Bay Area because the company’s software was “prioritizing the avoidance of other freeway hazards and/or failing to recognize the construction zone.” The company suspended all freeway driving the following day. Waymo’s safety board decided to issue the recall on June 8. Footage of some of these incidents were shared on social media. On May 19, X user @Elliot_slade posted a video where they claimed a Waymo “blasted through cones,” and said it was “chased” by police. “There were construction signs,” Slade told CBS News last month. “There were lights going on. Police in the distance and it sped up. That’s when I looked at my fiancée, we’re done. This is it. We’re dead. We’re going to die right here in the Waymo.” Waymo offered Slade “three free rides up to $40 each in the future,” according to CBS. When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence. Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories
