Waymo recalls about 3,900 robotaxis after some drove into 'freeway construction zones'

A Waymo autonomous taxi outside the Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, US, on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images Waymo is recalling almost 3,900 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues after some cars drove into freeway construction zones, according to notices filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The voluntary recall, the Alphabet -owned company's second in just over a month, followed 13 known incidents where Waymo robotaxis drove into construction zones on freeways in Phoenix, or entered freeway lanes with active construction in the San Francisco area, the filings published Thursday said. Waymo's notice applies to vehicles that use the company's fifth-generation automated driving systems, according to a letter posted to the regulator's website. The letter noted that, "Driving through a closed construction zone increases the risk of a crash." "We identified an area of improvement regarding performance around freeway construction zones," Waymo said in an emailed statement. "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. We continue to safely serve riders on surface streets in all the cities where we operate." Waymo said it's developing a "remedy" for the issue and, in the meantime, has limited robotaxi availability for use on freeways. …