Waymo robotaxis kept illegally passing school buses after software fix, feds say | TechCrunch

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 (NHTSA) said in a November 6 filing that a majority of these reported incidents occurred after the company deployed a software update intended to fix the problem.

Reuters was the first to report the filing.

Waymo said last year that a software update was completed for all affected vehicles on November 17, 2025. However, NHTSA said the majority of the incidents occurred after the software update. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has opened a “recall query” to “assess the adequacy of the remedy.”

The ODI 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. In that incident, a Waymo robotaxi crossed perpendicularly in front of the school bus from its right side. The autonomous vehicle then turned left around the front of the bus before traveling down the street.

Numerous other incidents have been documented in the weeks and months since in Austin, where Waymo also operates a robotaxi service. Austin Independent School District officials reported at least five such incidents at the time, according to a letter filed with NHTSA.

Reached for comment, Waymo stressed the importance of safety to its mission. “We have made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses and have received no citations since March 2026,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “The Waymo Driver has a clearly demonstrated positive impact on roadway safety. Once received, we’ll work to respond to NHTSA’s query and look forward to continuing our engagement on recall processes for AV software that continues to learn and improve.”

TechCrunch also reached out to Austin Independent School District officials for comment and will update the article if they respond.