Waymo
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After only a few months on Dallas roads, issues with self-driving cars are piling up with a new federal investigation and a recall announced by Waymo.
In the latest win for AI, self-driving cars have been creeping onto urban roadways across the country more and more since the first Waymo trips in Arizona in 2018. Uber rolled out a human-monitored robotaxi service in Dallas last December, with fully automated Waymos launching in a service area roughly stretching from University Park to the Bishop Arts District in February.
Last week, however, the Federal Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced an investigation into Avride, the Austin-based robotaxi startup responsible for Uber’s autonomous fleets in Dallas. Avride vehicles have been involved in sixteen crashes in Austin and Dallas since the beginning of December, according to the investigation report.
The incidents occurred predominantly in Dallas, where autonomous vehicles are a relatively new phenomenon compared to Austin. Interestingly, the report states that in each incident, a driver was monitoring the autonomous driving system at the time of impact. One crash allegedly resulted in a minor injury, which reportedly did not require hospitalization.
In addition to conventional vehicles, Avride robotaxis can be ordered through Uber’s standard ride request in the Uber app. Users are notified if their trip has been picked up by a robotaxi and can switch to a human driver, according to Uber’s Dallas webpage.
As part of the inquiry, federal investigators reviewed video footage from each incident. Vehicles were observed merging into neighboring lanes or cars, failing to slow down behind cars and hitting stationary objects in their paths.
“These crashes may indicate inappropriate assertiveness and insufficient competence to execute these driving behaviors in a safe manner and may also constitute traffic safety violations,” the report reads.
In February, the NHTSA reported 88 crashes involving autonomous driving systems nationwide, down from 118 in January. That number dropped to 31 in March.
Waymo worries
Waymo is also facing scrutiny over the safety of its vehicles. On Monday, the company announced a recall of up to 3,791 units due to issues with fifth and sixth-generation operating systems. The recall was spurred after a Waymo vehicle apparently drove into a flooded roadway in San Antonio on April 20 at roughly 40 miles per hour. According to the NHTSA recall filing, Waymo has modified “operations to increase weather-related constraints,” updated maps and installed interim updates to mitigate immediate risks.
A video circulated earlier this week appears to show a Waymo vehicle running a red light at the intersection of Irving Boulevard and Inwood Road. In a statement to Fox 4, company representatives said the traffic light “was heavily dimmed.”
“Safety is our highest priority at Waymo — for our riders and everyone with whom we share the road,” the statement to Fox 4 said.
Autonomous vehicles have operated in Austin since 2023. To communicate safety concerns to residents, Austin officials have created an online dashboard to track glitches and other incidents involving autonomous driving systems. There have been 31 incidents in 2026 so far, with two reported instances of vehicles failing to stop for school bus stop arms.
Along with issues with yielding to school buses, the vehicles have also created issues for first responders, including during the March 1 mass shooting in Austin’s Sixth Street area. Video from around the time of the shooting shows a Waymo vehicle blocking an ambulance near the site of the gunfire, which killed three people and left 15 injured.
In Dallas, where Mayor Eric Johnson heralded autonomous driving systems as an “innovative transportation option” as Waymo launched in February, residents currently do not have access to incident-based reporting on autonomous vehicles through the city.
