Waymo recalls 1,212 robotaxis after collisions with gates and chains. The fix was already on the road.

May 2025 — Waymo has filed a software recall covering 1,212 driverless vehicles after a year-long federal review of its driving system that included collisions with gates and chains. Here's what changed after NHTSA opened its review, what it cost, and what went wrong.

Cost and outcome (as of May 2025)

Vehicles covered: 1,212, with an estimated 100% having the defect. (NHTSA recall 25E-034)
Collisions listed: 7 cited by NHTSA (Dec. 4, 2022 to Apr. 25, 2024), plus 9 more Waymo reported (Feb. 28 to Dec. 11, 2024). No injuries. (NHTSA recall 25E-034)
Fix: the Nov. 7, 2024 driverless software release, on the entire fleet by Dec. 26, 2024. (NHTSA recall 25E-034)
Federal review to recall: NHTSA opened its review May 13, 2024; Waymo submitted the recall May 12, 2025. (NHTSA recall 25E-034)
Commercial fleet: about 1,500 robotaxis in Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco. (TechCrunch)
Cost of the recall: not disclosed.

What the cars did

The filing says that, "due to the manner in which the object was detected or how the Waymo ADS responded to the detection, Waymo vehicles were involved in collisions with chains, gates, and other gate-like roadway barriers." ADS is the automated driving system, the software and sensors that drive the car with no one at the wheel.

The recall covers Waymo's fifth-generation ADS software from before the Nov. 7, 2024 release. The filing gives production dates of March 17, 2022 to Nov. 7, 2024. Waymo said there were no injuries in any of the events, but that such collisions "may result in an increased risk of injury."

How it unfolded

On May 13, 2024, NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation of Waymo's driving system. The filing quotes NHTSA as citing incident reports that "include collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects such as gates and chains." Ten days later, NHTSA sent Waymo an information request that cited seven collisions with chains or gates between Dec. 4, 2022 and Apr. 25, 2024.

Waymo says its own safety processes had already flagged chains, gates and similar barriers "as an area for improvement," and that software updates were in progress when NHTSA's review began. During that period, the filing says, Waymo held ongoing discussions with NHTSA "regarding the evaluation of comparative risk for autonomous vehicles." In the course of those talks, Waymo gave the agency information on nine additional collisions with these barriers, between Feb. 28 and Dec. 11, 2024. That brings the filing's total to 16.

Waymo says the Nov. 7 release "significantly reduced the likelihood" of these collisions. It was on every vehicle by Dec. 26, 2024. On May 1, 2025, Waymo's Safety Board decided to recall the older software "to fulfill relevant regulatory reporting obligations." Waymo submitted the recall on May 12.

A recall for a fix that already shipped

Waymo owns and runs its fleet, so no customer has to take a car in. The remedy is software already installed. What the recall does is put the defect, the count and the timeline on the federal record.

TechCrunch's Kirsten Korosec reported that Reuters broke the news. She noted two earlier Waymo software recalls in 2024: one in February, after two cars hit the same towed pickup truck, and one in June, after a car hit a telephone pole.

What went wrong

The cars misjudged thin or gate-like barriers. The filing blames how objects were detected or how the system responded to them.
The pattern ran for about two years. The listed collisions span Dec. 4, 2022 to Dec. 11, 2024.
The paperwork came last. The fix was fleetwide by late December 2024. The recall came almost five months later.
What we don't know yet: whether NHTSA will close its review, what the recall cost Waymo, and how many miles the fleet drove between the listed collisions.

Our follow-up question for Waymo

How many collisions with gates, chains or similar barriers has the fleet had since the Nov. 7, 2024 release went fleetwide?

Sources

Waymo LLC, Part 573 Safety Recall Report 25E-034, submitted May 12, 2025. static.nhtsa.gov
Kirsten Korosec, TechCrunch, “Waymo recalls 1,200 robotaxis following low-speed collisions with gates and chains,” May 14, 2025. techcrunch.com

Disclosure: [not in copy] Editor placeholder