Tesla, which operates a fleet of fewer than 40 cars that still often have human safety monitors, reported another crash in its latest report to federal regulators, bringing its total to 15 since launching its service in June.
Waymo, which operates a fully driverless fleet of 200 cars, reported four new crashes, bringing its total to 60 since June.
Tesla said its latest crash, which was posted in National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data reflecting incidents through Feb. 17, was with a fixed object. More detail about what was hit was not available because the Austin automaker redacts narratives in its public reports and did not respond to a request for comment.
However, the report indicates the collision occurred in an area with construction, maintenance, or utility work activities. The robotaxi's last pre-crash movement was a lane or road departure and it was moving at 9 mph before the crash. There was property damage, but no injuries.
Previous crashes have primarily involved property damage, but one incident from the summer described the service's worst crash-related injury to date as "minor with hospitalization."
The crash data comes ahead of the expected April launch of production of Tesla's new Cybercab, a purpose-built robotaxi designed with gold-colored paint and two seats. South by Southwest Conference and Festival attendees got a sneak peak as the automaker put a prototype on display in downtown Austin over the weekend.
Tesla's existing Robotaxi-branded service uses Model Y vehicles. The company has said it's removing human safety monitors and will increase its number of fully autonomous vehicles over time.
Waymo, the autonomous ride-hailing industry leader owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc., operates about 160 more vehicles than Tesla in Austin.
Of the four new crashes it reported through mid-February, three were collisions with pickup trucks. One of the collisions with a pickup involved passengers. Though they didn't sustain injuries, the incident is being investigated by the Austin Police Department.
Another of Waymo's latest crashes involved a collision with a flat wooden object shortly after 2 a.m. Waymo's narrative doesn't describe where it occurred, but says the vehicle was moving at 20 mph. For its crashes with pickup trucks, Waymo said its vehicles were either stationary or traveling 2 mph.
Waymo's operations in Austin have been under heightened scrutiny after one of its vehicles was seen blocking an Austin-Travis County EMS ambulance responding to the mass shooting on West Sixth Street earlier this month. The incident did not impact response time or have an effect on shooting victims, Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz said.
It's also facing an investigation over its driverless vehicles illegally passing stopped Austin school buses several times since the start of the school year. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation recently found that on at least one occasion, a human remote assistance agent directed a Waymo robotaxi to pass a stopped school bus in Austin while students were boarding.
Tesla also is under multiple investigations for the performance of its technology. In the latest, the NHTSA is probing the company over allegations its consumer vehicles have broken traffic laws while operating in what it calls Full Self-Driving mode — the same system used in its robotaxis. One investigation was opened late last year after dozens of reports of Tesla vehicles running red lights and driving on the wrong side of the road, sometimes crashing into other vehicles and causing injuries.
In February, representatives of both companies faced congressional questioning over their business plans and safety records.
Along with Waymo's Austin crashes, it also reported collisions in Dallas, Houston and Del Valle recently. In the Austin-area crash, the Waymo was traveling northwest on a highway in January when a raccoon ran into the roadway from the left side and entered the Waymo's lane of travel. The vehicle slowed to yield to the raccoon, and the front left side of the Waymo made contact with the raccoon, damaging the vehicle.
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