Federal Regulators Probe Waymo Robotaxis for Passing Stopped School Buses

Federal highway safety regulators are investigating Waymo after it said the company’s driverless vehicles continued to pass stopped school buses despite a software update meant to fix the problem.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a Nov. 6 filing that the probe covers 2,895 robotaxis that are equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system.

The agency said it had identified a “large number” of reported incidents in which Waymo vehicles passed school buses while their red lights were flashing or their stop arms were extended. The signals indicate children are getting on or off the bus.

A majority of the incidents occurred after Nov. 17, 2025, when Waymo said it had completed the software update on all affected vehicles.

The new investigation will examine whether the earlier fix was adequate and determine what caused the later violations.

In December 2025, Waymo recalled software used by 3,067 vehicles after determining that, under certain circumstances, its autonomous driving system could begin moving again before a stopped school bus turned off its flashing lights or retracted its stop arm.

Waymo said the problem had to do with software designed in part to prevent its vehicles from impeding “priority vehicles,” such as school buses and public buses.

In some situations, the system could conclude that it may be impeding the priority vehicles and decide to proceed even though the bus was still displaying stop signals.

At the time of the recall, Waymo said it knew of 12 citations associated with this behavior, and that no collisions had resulted from those incidents.

A spokesperson for Waymo said the company will work with regulators and improve its software.

“We have made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses and have received no citations since March 2026,” the spokesperson said in a statement to The Epoch Times.

In January, NHTSA opened a separate investigation after a driverless Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California.

The incident occurred during school drop-off hours within two blocks of the school, according to NHTSA. The child ran into the street from behind a double-parked SUV and suffered minor injuries.

Regulators said they would examine whether the Waymo vehicle exercised appropriate caution near children, a crossing guard, and other potential vulnerable road users.

Waymo also recalled software in June after its vehicles entered active freeway construction zones.

The recall followed incidents in Phoenix in which Waymo’s autonomous vehicles failed to recognize ramp-closure signs, as well as others in the San Francisco Bay Area in which vehicles drove between cones into closed freeway lanes.

Waymo is not the only autonomous-vehicle developer facing scrutiny over how their cars respond to unusual road conditions.

In July, NHTSA Administrator Jonathan Morrison warned that all self-driving car companies must quickly address what he called a “clear pattern” of interference with law enforcement or emergency responders.

In a letter to the industry, Morrison said his agency had documented cases of driverless cars entering active emergency scenes, blocking ambulances and firefighters, and responding poorly when there were flashing lights, fire, and traffic cones.

“To state it bluntly: An AV that cannot safely interact with first responders is a danger to the general public,” Morrison wrote.