Waymo plans to file a voluntary software recall after reports that some of its driverless taxis passed stopped school buses with red lights flashing and stop arms deployed.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October following a media report and video showing a Waymo vehicle driving around a stopped school bus. The agency’s docket also includes a letter from the Austin Independent School District documenting 19 instances in which Waymo vehicles passed that district’s buses; the district says one vehicle did so just after a student had crossed in front of the bus while still in the roadway.
Waymo chief safety officer Mauricio Peña told NPR the company is proud of its safety record but recognizes the need to improve when its systems behave incorrectly. Waymo says it identified a software issue that contributed to the incidents, believes forthcoming updates will fix the problem, and intends to submit a voluntary software recall with NHTSA early next week. The company reported no injuries related to these events.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has repeatedly emphasized that its driverless cars have fewer crashes than cars driven by humans. The company reports 91% fewer crashes with serious injuries and 92% fewer crashes with pedestrian injuries in the cities where it operates, and independent analyses by outlets including Ars Technica and the newsletter Understanding AI have supported the general finding that Waymo’s vehicles crash less often than human-driven cars. Still, federal investigators have requested extensive information about the reported bus-pass incidents.
NHTSA noted Waymo’s autonomous fleet surpassed 100 million miles of driving last July and continues to add around 2 million miles per week, saying the likelihood of other similar incidents is high. Investigators recently sent Waymo a detailed list of questions and set a deadline of Jan. 20, 2026, for a response.
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