Screenshot of one of many incidents of a Waymo robotaxi illegally passing a stopped college bus. | Credit score: Austin ISD
Waymo this week plans to file a voluntary software program recall for its robotaxis. The recall is in response to the corporate’s robotaxis illegally passing stopped college buses in a variety of incidents throughout completely different states.
In September, WXIA-TV in Atlanta aired a video exhibiting a Waymo illegally passing a stopped college bus. A month later, the Nationwide Freeway Visitors Security Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into Waymo round “site visitors security violations referring to stopping when encountering a faculty bus, significantly when the bus is boarding or offboarding college students.”
In its investigation, the NHTSA stated a Waymo autonomous car (AV) failed to stay stopped when approaching a faculty bus that was stopped with its lights flashing, cease arm deployed, and a crossing management arm deployed. No security driver was within the car in the course of the incident, and the car was working utilizing Waymo’s Fifth-generation driver. As a part of the investigation, the NHTSA issued a listing of detailed questions concerning the incidents to Waymo.
The NHTSA web site additionally features a letter from the Austin Unbiased College District, signed by the district’s senior counsel. Within the letter, college district officers say they’ve recorded 19 completely different situations of a Waymo robotaxi “illegally and dangerously” passing Austin college buses because the 2025-2026 college 12 months. Moreover, a kind of incidents concerned a Waymo car passing a faculty bus “solely moments after a scholar crossed in entrance of the car, and whereas the coed was nonetheless within the highway.”
In keeping with the letter, 5 of those incidents occurred after Waymo assured the varsity district that it had issued software program updates that will treatment the difficulty. Within the letter, the Austin Unbiased College District requested Waymo stop operations in the course of the instances college buses can be loading and unloading.
Waymo chief security officer Mauricio Peña despatched the next assertion to The Robotic Report: “Whereas we’re extremely pleased with our robust security document exhibiting Waymo experiences twelve instances fewer harm crashes involving pedestrians than human drivers, holding the best security requirements means recognizing when our habits ought to be higher. Because of this, we’ve made the choice to file a voluntary software program recall with NHTSA associated to appropriately slowing and stopping in these situations. We are going to proceed analyzing our automobiles’ efficiency and making needed fixes as a part of our dedication to steady enchancment.”
Waymo instructed NPR it has recognized the software program challenge that contributed to the incidents and believes subsequent updates will repair the difficulty. No accidents have occurred throughout these points, in keeping with Waymo.
Waymo’s security document to date
In keeping with NHTSA, Waymo’s robotaxis surpassed 100 million miles of driving in July 2025, and the corporate continues to build up 2 million miles per week. The corporate at the moment operates autonomous robotaxis in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Within the U.S., Waymo robotaxis have already pushed greater than 10 million paid rides.
Waymo final issued a voluntary recall in Could 2025, when it recalled 1,212 robotaxis to deal with dangers of collisions with chains, gates, and different roadway boundaries. The corporate stated it resolved the underlying software program challenge by a November 2024 replace that lowered the chance of all these occasions.
In keeping with Waymo’s personal security knowledge, its automobiles have been concerned in 91% fewer severe accidents or worse crashes, no matter who’s at fault for the crash. Moreover, its automobiles have been in 92% fewer pedestrian crashes than human drivers.
The corporate will probably be beneath rising scrutiny because it continues to develop its service. Waymo intends to develop or launch providers in Nashville, Las Vegas, San Diego, Detroit, Washington D.C., Miami, Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Orlando, San Antonio, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Denver within the coming years.
As well as, Waymo is planning to carry its expertise abroad. It stated it desires to deploy in London in 2026, and it has already deployed take a look at automobiles in Tokyo to study native site visitors patterns.
Waymo dominates the robotaxi house within the U.S., however there are a variety of firms attempting to catch up. In June 2025, Tesla launched a robotaxi service in Austin. Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary, launched its first public service in San Francisco in November 2025. Moreover, Nuro, a Mountain View, Calif.-based startup, just lately closed a Sequence E spherical of $203 million at a $6 billion valuation.
The Robotic Report named Waymo its Robotic of the Yr in 2025.
