Waymo Robotaxis Kept Passing School Buses After the Software Fix, Feds Say

Nearly a year ago, Waymo updated its self-driving software and issued a recall after numerous reports that its robotaxis were illegally passing school buses that had stopped and deployed flashing red lights. Now federal safety regulators have opened a new investigation into why that behavior has continued. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a November 6 filing that a majority of the reported incidents occurred after the company deployed a software update intended to fix the problem.

The NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation has opened a recall query, RQ26-006, to assess the adequacy of the remedy. The investigation covers 2,895 vehicles equipped with Waymo fifth-generation automated driving system. The office opened its initial investigation into Waymo in October 2025 after seeing footage of one of its autonomous vehicles maneuvering around a stopped school bus that had its stop sign extended, lights flashing, and was unloading children in Atlanta. Waymo said last year that a software update was completed for all affected vehicles on November 17, 2025, under a December 2025 safety recall covering 3,067 vehicles. Numerous other incidents have been documented since in Austin, where Waymo also operates a robotaxi service. Austin Independent School District officials reported at least five such incidents at the time, and later documented 19 separate violations.

Waymo stressed the importance of safety to its mission, saying it has made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses and has received no citations since March 2026. The current federal action is a recall query, a type of investigation used to evaluate whether a previous safety recall adequately corrected an identified problem. It is not the same as announcing a new recall or ordering an immediate suspension of Waymo robotaxi services. Separately, NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board have opened probes after one of Waymo self-driving vehicles struck a child in January near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, and the NTSB is also investigating the incidents of Waymo vehicles passing stopped school buses.