The self‑driving taxi company Waymo is being investigated by federal safety regulators after police in Austin, Texas say school‑bus cameras captured its vehicles failing to stop at least 20 times since August. Videos shared by local authorities show Waymo vehicles appearing to pass stopped school buses while the buses displayed flashing red lights and extended stop signs as children crossed.
The latest reported incident happened after Waymo said it had installed a software update intended to address the behavior. Video of that event shows a Waymo vehicle not coming to a full stop until after it passed the front of the bus. Waymo’s statement said it is “working to understand what occurred and improve.” The company added there were no injuries in the incidents, that its vehicles will remain on the road, and that it will file a voluntary safety recall while staff continue analyzing vehicle performance and making fixes.
Waymo’s chief safety officer said the company is proud of its safety record but must acknowledge and correct behavior when it falls short. Officials told investigators the vehicle programming “did not recognize what a vehicle is supposed to do around a stopped school bus with students loading and unloading.”
CBS News notes Waymo engineers have described goals of making fewer mistakes than human drivers as the company builds services such as freeway driving. Federal regulators opened an earlier probe in October after video surfaced of a similar school‑bus incident in Atlanta. Kris Van Cleave, CBS News.
