NHTSA brought Waymo, Zoox, Rivian and GM together on fixing recalls over the air

Four vehicle makers sat on the same stage at Department of Transportation headquarters on Nov. 5 for a one-hour panel on a question that has dogged the auto industry for decades: how to repair a recalled vehicle without making its owner visit a dealer. Waymo, Zoox, Rivian and General Motors, abbreviated GM, were the companies at the table. Their subject was over-the-air remedies, the software updates that can close a safety recall while a vehicle sits in a driveway.

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The panel opened the 9 a.m. hour at a daylong National Highway Traffic Safety Administration meeting called Recalls Next, which ran from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The agency convened government officials, manufacturers, researchers and state regulators around one problem it summarized in a sentence: millions of safety-recalled vehicles remain unrepaired. Software repair was one of several answers on the agenda.

The automated vehicle and over-the-air panel

NHTSA’s event record for Recalls Next titled the first session Automated Vehicles and OTA Remedies in the Recall Space. Two agency officials moderated: Tanya Topka, who directs the Office of Defects Investigations, and Neil Dold, lead engineer in the Advanced and Emerging Technologies Division. Neither they nor the companies had published remarks as of Nov. 9, so what follows covers who spoke and in what capacity rather than what was said.

The event page listing names five speakers. Stephen Ridella directs the safety planning and regulatory reporting division at Zoox. Matt Schwall is senior director of safety and incident management at Waymo. Nancy Bell is senior legal director for regulatory affairs and policy at Rivian. Regina Carto is vice president of global product safety and systems at General Motors. Jeff Farrah, chief executive of the Autonomous Vehicle Industry Association, rounded out the group.

The roster pairs two driverless-fleet operators, Waymo and Zoox, with Rivian, a maker of software-centered electric trucks and SUVs, and with GM, a legacy manufacturer that sells through franchised dealers. Adding Farrah’s trade group meant the autonomous vehicle industry as a whole had a voice beside four individual companies, so the hour covered both company practice and industry-wide policy.

The rest of the Recalls Next agenda

Three breakout sessions followed the morning panel. One covered recall notifications and included executives from Recall Masters and the consulting firm Stout. A second, on barriers to repair, drew speakers from The Behavioural Insights Team, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, Ford and the National Automobile Dealers Association. The third took up heavy trucks and buses, with Volvo Trucks among the participants.

The meeting was built on the April 2026 report to Congress, and in-person attendance required registration by Oct. 29, after which NHTSA planned a follow-up email to attendees on Nov. 2. The agency also offered accommodation requests for attendees with disabilities. That level of advance logistics suggests a planned working session rather than a ceremonial one.

An afternoon panel turned to the states, where registration systems actually live. Speakers included Maryland’s motor vehicle administration, Stellantis, Experian Automotive, New Jersey dealers and the rental-car industry’s trade group. The day opened with remarks from NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison and Eileen Sullivan, the associate administrator for enforcement, and closed with comments from Alex Ansley of the Recall Management Division.

Why software repairs matter to a completion rate

NHTSA’s April 2026 report to Congress supplies the baseline. Vehicle-only recalls from 2012 through 2022 average a 65.8 percent completion rate, and the report found that up to 30 percent of unrepaired vehicles in older campaigns change owner or address in a given year. A remedy pushed to the car itself does not depend on a mailed notice reaching the right person, and it removes the trip, the wait and the lost workday that the report lists among the burdens that keep owners away.

The same report recommends measures at the other end of the pipeline, such as mobile repairs, loaner vehicles and free towing for the repairs that still need a technician. Those fixes are physical, and the automated vehicle makers on the panel are the ones best positioned to show how many recalls can instead be closed by software alone.

Money and rulemaking after the meeting

Morrison used the meeting to put money behind the effort, announcing a $1.5 million grant program for states that warn owners about open recalls at registration. The money is posted as a federal funding opportunity with applications due Feb. 4, 2027. That program targets owner notification, not remedies, so the over-the-air question remains separate and open. In the announcement, Morrison framed every unrepaired recall as a preventable risk, and argued that state motor vehicle offices catching open recalls at registration time would pull more defective cars off the street.

No rule or guidance on software remedies came out of the meeting. What the agenda does show is that NHTSA put the companies that can fix a fleet remotely in the same room as dealers, insurers and state registrars. Whether that conversation becomes a policy proposal is something the agency has not said.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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