The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has asked Waymo for more information about its self-driving system and operations after reports from the Austin School District that its robot illegally passed school buses 19 times this year.
In one Letter of December 3 sent to Waymo, regulators requested detailed information about the fifth-generation self-driving system and its functions. Reuters was the first to report in the letter, which comes two months after the agency opened an investigation into Waymo over how its robotic car performed around stopped school buses.
The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened its initial investigation into the Alphabet-owned company in October after seeing footage of a Waymo self-driving vehicle maneuvering around a stopped school bus — with its stop sign extended and lights flashing — dropping off children in Atlanta. In that incident, a Waymo robotaxi crossed directly in front of the school bus on its right side. The autonomous vehicle then turned left around the front of the bus before traveling down the road.
Waymo said the bus was partially blocking the road and that the robotaxi could not see the flashing lights or stop sign.
Waymo also said it issued a software update to its fleet to improve performance.
Reports of the Waymo robotaxis illegally passing school buses continued even after the fix. The Austin School District has reported 19 separate instances of Waymo automated vehicles illegally passing school buses since the start of the 2025-2026 school year. The school district noted in a letter to Waymo that at least five of those happened after Waymo said it updated its software on Nov. 17.
In an emailed statement, Waymo said safety is its top priority. The company also said data shows its robots improve road safety, with a five-fold reduction in injury-related crashes compared to human drivers and 12 times fewer injury-related crashes with pedestrians.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco
|
13-15 October 2026
“We have already made software updates to improve our performance and are committed to continuous improvement,” the statement continued. “NHTSA plays a vital role in road safety, and we will continue to work with the agency as part of our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.”
Waymo claims that software updates have significantly improved performance to a level better than human drivers in this area.
The Austin School District appears to disagree and has asked Waymo to stop operating during certain hours of the day when students arrive and leave school.
“Waymo’s software updates are clearly not working as intended or as quickly as required,” the district’s Nov. 20 letter to Waymo states. “We cannot allow Waymo to continue to put our students at risk while it tries to implement a fix. Therefore, Austin ISD is requiring Waymo to immediately stop operating its automated vehicles during the hours of 5:20am – 9:30am and 3:00pm – 7:00pm until more thorough vehicle software updates are completed under its law Way.”
Federal regulators with the Office of Damage Investigation sent Waymo a letter four days later, noting that he had been notified by Austin school district officials. Investigators asked if Waymo had shut down as requested by the school district, if the software fix alleviated that concern, and if Waymo planned to file a recall.
