WayMo self-driving cars recalled for illegally passing school buses

A total of 3,067 Waymo vehicles are reported as having the software defect. 

An investigation was first opened into Waymo’s 5th Generation Automated Driving System (ADS) in October by NHTSA after a video report circulated of one of their AVs passing a stopped school bus in Atlanta — first decreasing in speed, and then moving forward despite the bus’s extended stop arm and red flashing lights, indicating the loading or offloading of children. 

This incident was described in the announcement as the “first known event” leading to Wednesday’s recall, which was followed by an assessment from Waymo software engineers who then “identified the behavior described in this report and developed software changes to address the behavior” in October. 

Austin Independent School District (AISD) reported in early December having recorded instances of Waymo vehicles illegally driving around stopped school buses “at least” 20 times between the start of the school year in August and four months later. The district discovered the footage after the Atlanta incident highlighted the potential concerns.

Austin has become one of the testing grounds for AV deployments.

AISD Assistant Chief of Police Travis Pickford said, per reporting from Fox 7 Austin, that the district hadn’t gotten “any sort of notification” from bus drivers when the AVs erred in passing stopped buses, but once AISD reviewed their footage, they “discovered the nature of the violations, not just that there were violations, but the egregious nature of the violations.” 

Waymo reports 12 citations as a result of the self-driving cars’ behavior, received between September 25 and November 14. They noted that no collisions have been recorded related to these software issues. 

On October 30, Waymo’s Field Safety Committee “made the decision to deploy the software change to address the behavior … as a software hotfix outside of the normal software release cadence.” They also began an analysis looking at the “comparative safety risk posed by this behavior.” 

“Following successful validation, the software hotfix was incrementally deployed to all affected vehicles between 11/5/2025, and 11/17/2025, as part of an incremental release transition process. This release also included other enhancements related to ADS behavior when encountering stopped school buses.”

On December 2, Waymo said that it reviewed information on the behavior, “including information about rates of human drivers improperly passing school buses,” and then went forward with the voluntary recall issued on December 10. 

A letter was sent to Waymo on December 3 from NHTSA, requesting a comprehensive report on the vehicles’ behavior and the company’s safeguards put up to prevent it from recurring — and informing Waymo of the preliminary investigation being conducted “to investigate the performance of the Waymo ADS around stopped school buses and the system’s ability to follow traffic safety laws concerning school buses.” 

It cited the Atlanta incident, stating that “[Office of Defects Investigation] is concerned that ADS-equipped vehicles exhibiting such unexpected driving behaviors or not complying with traffic safety laws concerning school buses may increase the risk ofcrash, injury, and property damage.”

“This incident occurred in the proximity of other road users, including pedestrians,” it noted. 

A state law was passed in 2017 to make AVs legal to operate in Texas. Senate Bill (SB) 2205 preempted local authorities concerning AVs and made uniform regulations and oversight a state issue. 

SB 2205 allows driverless vehicles to operate in Texas as long as they comply with state traffic laws, are equipped with a recording device, have an automated driving system that meets federal standards, are registered and titled under Texas regulations, and carry auto liability insurance or self-insurance. The law also states that the “owner” of the driverless car is considered the operator of the vehicle.

Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña said in a statement distributed to the press prior to the official issuance of the recall, “While we are incredibly proud of our strong safety record showing Waymo experiences twelve times fewer injury crashes involving pedestrians than human drivers, holding the highest safety standards means recognizing when our behavior should be better.”

“As a result, we have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to appropriately slowing and stopping in these scenarios,” he added. 

“We will continue analyzing our vehicles’ performance and making necessary fixes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement.”

Link to article here.