Nearly a year ago, Waymo updated its self-driving software and issued a recall after widespread reports that its robo-taxis were illegally overtaking school buses that had stopped and deployed flashing red lights. Today, federal safety regulators opened a new investigation into why this behavior persisted.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a Nov. 6 document that the majority of these reported incidents occurred after the company rolled out a software update intended to address the problem.
Reuters was first to report the matter.
Waymo said last year that a software update was performed for all affected vehicles on November 17, 2025. However, NHTSA said the majority of incidents occurred after the software update. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened a “recall request” to “evaluate the adequacy of the remedy.”
ODI opened its first investigation into Waymo in October 2025 after seeing footage of one of its autonomous vehicles maneuvering around a stopped school bus with its stop sign extended, lights flashing and unloading children in Atlanta. In this incident, a Waymo robotaxi crossed perpendicularly in front of the school bus from its right side. The autonomous vehicle then turned left in front of the bus before heading down the street.
Numerous other incidents were documented in the weeks and months that followed 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.
Contacted for comment, Waymo emphasized the importance of security to its mission. “We have made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses and have not received any citations since March 2026,” a spokesperson told TechCrunch via email. “The Waymo Driver has a clearly demonstrated positive impact on road safety. Once received, we will work to respond to NHTSA’s request and look forward to continuing our engagement on AV software recall processes that continue to learn and improve.”
TechCrunch has also reached out to Austin Independent School District officials for comment and will update the article if they respond.
This article was updated after publication with Waymo’s statement.
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