Waymo says one of its self-driving vehicles was operating in manual mode when it was involved in a rear-end collision in a Phoenix suburb and that the crash was caused by reckless driving of the other vehicle
TEMPE, Ariz. —
A Waymo self-driving vehicle was operating in manual mode when it was involved in a rear-end collision in a Phoenix suburb and that the crash was caused by reckless driving of the other vehicle, the company said Friday.
The collision occurred late Thursday night in Tempe when the other vehicle “erratically swerved” in front of the Waymo vehicle, “braking aggressively and abruptly slowing down to a full stop on a 45 mph (72 kph) road,” the company said in a statement.
The Waymo driver tried to avoid a collision but the Waymo vehicle rear-ended the other vehicle “as a result of the reckless driving of the other individual,” the company said.
The Tempe Police Department is investigating and could not immediately release detailed information on circumstances of the crash or say whether any citations were issued, spokeswoman Sara Saldo said in an email.
Saldo earlier said the Waymo driver was taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries described as non-life threatening. A passenger was also in the Waymo vehicle and two people were in the other vehicle, and those people weren’t injured, she said.
Waymo said its driver reported neck pain, and was taken to a hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries and released.
“Incidents such as this one reinforce the importance of Waymo’s mission: to make it safe for people to get where they’re going and to help save the thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes caused by humans,” the company said.
Waymo, a Google spinoff, is among several companies testing autonomous vehicles in metro Phoenix.
An Uber self-driving vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian in Tempe in a 2018 crash that the National Transportation Safety Board said was caused by the distracted human safety driver.
Uber halted its self-driving vehicle testing program in Arizona after that crash.