Waymo robotaxis reported passing stopped school buses at least 19 times

Austin Independent School District officials said Waymo self-driving vehicles had illegally passed stopped school buses displaying flashing lights and extended stop arms at least 19 times since the start of the 2025–26 school year, prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open a preliminary investigation into Waymo’s driverless fleet.

NHTSA sent Waymo a letter asking the company to account for how its vehicles handled stopped school buses, after the reports drew wide coverage. At least five of the 19 reported incidents occurred even after Waymo had already released a software update on 17 November intended to fix the behaviour. Waymo subsequently filed a voluntary recall covering more than 3,000 vehicles, saying an updated system would improve detection of school buses’ flashing red lights and extended stop arms.

Further incidents were later reported in other cities, including Atlanta, and the National Transportation Safety Board separately opened its own safety investigation. The episode became one of the more concrete regulatory tests of driverless-vehicle behaviour around a specific, well-defined traffic law, arriving as Waymo continued expanding its driverless fleet across US cities.