Waymo vehicles are returning to Phoenix freeways July 29 after the company earlier this year pumped the brakes on the service.
"We are welcoming riders on freeways again after implementing software updates to improve our performance around highway construction zones," wrote spokesperson Sandy Karp. "We remain focused on operating responsibly to build a driver that communities trust and want on our roads."
The autonomous vehicle company announced it would pull its vehicles from freeways in May after a handful of cars failed to identify highway construction zones or pulled into active construction areas to avoid other road hazards.
Company officials said during the break, the vehicles went through software upgrades, simulation and testing to improve
their reaction to construction zones. The vehicles continued to cruise surface streets during the hiatus.
The company is bringing back freeway service gradually and will closely watch the reintroduction, according to a news release.
The freeway service will restart first in Phoenix. San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Miami will follow. The company started offering freeway rides to Phoenix customers at the end of 2025.
At the time of the recall, there had been just four incidents involving Waymo vehicles on or near freeways in the Phoenix metro, according to data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. None of the incidents involved construction zones.
A recent report by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that the crash rate for Waymos in Phoenix was 76% lower than for human drivers, based on federal crash data. However, the paper's authors acknowledged it can be difficult accurately chart the differences between crash rates for humans versus machines due to variability in reporting requirements and standards.
As more highly autonomous vehicles hit the streets, "crash involvements with inevitably rise," the authors of the IIHS report wrote. "It is important that researchers, policymakers, and other stakeholders have appropriate data systems to monitor safety in a straightforward and timely manner."
Alaina Mencinger covers energy, utilities and tech for the Arizona Republic. Reach her at Alaina.Mencinger@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Waymo merges back onto Phoenix freeways after software fix
