Autonomous vehicle startup Pony.ai has agreed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a recall for three of their test vehicles.
Pony.ai said an issue could occur in very rare circumstances in which a planning system diagnostic check “could generate a ‘false positive’ indication of a geolocation mismatch.”
The company says it has already updated the software, but upon request by the NHTSA will conduct a recall.
According to the NHTSA, this is the first recall of an automated driving system.
“Whether the vehicle is operated by a human driver or an automated driving system, the need to protect roadway users remains the same. As this first recall of an automated driving system underscores, NHTSA will ensure that vehicle manufacturers and developers prioritize safety while they usher in the latest technologies,” said NHTSA Deputy Administrator Steven Cliff. “ (via Reuters)
The recall was prompted by a crash in October last year in which a driverless test car collided with a median and road sign just a few hundred feet from Tesla’s Fremont factory.
No other cars were involved, but the incident ultimately led to the company losing their driverless testing permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in November.
Despite the troubles, Pony.ai completed a Series D funding round earlier this week, giving it a valuation of $8.5 billion.
Pony.ai loses driverless testing permit in California following single-vehicle crash
