Waymo Said It Fixed Its School Bus Problem. The US Government Says It Didn’t Work
The US government is investigating whether Waymo's software updates successfully prevented its autonomous vehicles from illegally passing stopped school buses. Despite a voluntary recall and software fixes, reports indicate that incidents of this nature have continued to occur.
Why it matters
This investigation highlights the regulatory challenges of deploying autonomous vehicle technology in public spaces and the safety standards required for AI-driven transport.
The formal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will determine whether the company’s supposed software fix succeeded in preventing its robotaxis from improperly passing stopped school buses with red lights on and their stop arms extended—indicators that the buses were picking up and dropping off students. It is illegal to pass these stopped school buses in all 50 states.
According to a filing, Waymo issued a fix for the software issue in mid-November, and an official voluntary recall a month later. But the government says that the majority of school bus issues occurred after that date.
Earlier this year, a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the US’ independent safety agency, found that another school bus passing incident occurred in mid-January, several weeks after the supposed software fix. The NTSB is also investigating the school bus passing issue.
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