Updated Dec. 8, 2025 — Federal regulators have widened an investigation into Waymo after reports that the company’s driverless vehicles navigated around stopped school buses in Austin, Texas.
In a Dec. 3 letter to Waymo, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it will review the vehicles’ performance and their compliance with traffic safety laws. Reuters first reported the agency’s probe.
The Austin Independent School District told CBS News it has documented 20 incidents this school year in which a Waymo vehicle illegally passed a stopped school bus. NHTSA guidance notes that all 50 states require motorists to stop for school buses when red lights are flashing and a stop arm is extended.
Waymo said it traced the problem to a software issue and rolled out updates by Nov. 17 that improved vehicle behavior. The company plans to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA next week and said it will continue analyzing vehicle performance and making necessary fixes, according to its chief safety officer, Mauricio Peña.
Austin school officials remain concerned. The district said Waymo received its 20th citation as of Dec. 1, despite the company’s assertion that the Nov. 17 updates addressed the issue. In a Nov. 20 letter, Austin ISD asked Waymo to halt operations in the district during times when students are loading and unloading buses until compliance can be ensured; the district said Waymo declined to suspend service during those hours.
Waymo pointed to its broader safety record in response to the NHTSA inquiry, citing company data that show fewer injury-related crashes than human drivers — including a fivefold reduction in injury crashes overall and twelve times fewer injury crashes involving pedestrians. Waymo did not say whether it would honor the Austin district’s request to pause service during bus loading and unloading.
NHTSA opened an earlier investigation in October after a Waymo vehicle in Atlanta drove around a stopped school bus with flashing red lights and an extended stop arm. The agency said that vehicle passed the bus’ stop arm and a nearby safety device while students were disembarking; no human safety operator was present. Atlanta Public Schools has reported six similar cases.
Waymo, owned by Alphabet, began offering fully autonomous public rides in October 2020 in Phoenix and now operates driverless service in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix and Atlanta, with announced plans to expand to Philadelphia.