Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, is recalling the software of its self-driving vehicles after officials in Austin said the vehicles did not stop for school buses.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a letter to Waymo Wednesday saying that its Office of Defects Investigation was starting a preliminary evaluation to “investigate the performance of the Waymo [automated driving system] around stopped school buses and the system’s ability to follow traffic safety laws concerning school buses.”
On Friday, Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña said in a statement that “holding the highest safety standards means recognizing when our behavior should be better. As a result, we have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to appropriately slowing and stopping in these scenarios,” according to Reuters.
NHTSA initially opened a probe into Waymo in October after a similar issue in Atlanta. Austin Independent School District officials then sent multiple emails and letters to Waymo, including a Nov. 20 missive alleging 19 separate instances of its vehicles illegally passing district school buses during the 2025-2026 school year so far.
Austin school officials added that five of the 19 incidents occurred after Waymo told the school district that the software had been updated to resolve the issue, and in particular accused Waymo of one incident where “a Waymo automated vehicle was recorded driving past a stopped school bus only moments after a student crossed in front of the vehicle, and while the student was still in the road.”
Waymo officials assert that the company’s vehicles are still much safer than human drivers. Mr. Peña told Fox Business that “Waymo experiences twelve times fewer injury crashes involving pedestrians than human drivers.”
