Waymo is hitting the brakes on its robotaxi software and issuing a voluntary recall after school bus safety concerns came to light earlier this year.
The recall won’t necessarily pull cars from the road but will instead see them updated. It comes after an investigation from NewsNation local affiliate KXAN that found the company’s driverless vehicles illegally passed school buses with their stop arms out in Austin, Texas.
The Austin Independent School District said similar incidents occurred at least 19 times this school year, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October.
In November, cameras captured a Waymo car briefly stopping and then moving forward — all while a student was still crossing the road. The bus’s stop arms were out the entire time.
Other videos obtained by KXAN showed Waymo vehicles either driving past buses entirely or stopping alongside them rather than behind.
In six of the videos reviewed by KXAN, children could be seen in the video frame.
No injuries have been reported, but parents and law enforcement alike are raising red flags about Waymo vehicles’ programming.
“There are other districts that are being potentially impacted by these operations as well … We want to be very vigilant about it,” said Wayne Sneed, Austin ISD police chief.
Atlanta Public Schools said it recorded at least six similar stop-arm violations between May and December.
One of these incidents is now under investigation after a Waymo vehicle reportedly failed to stop for a bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended.
Nationwide, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been reviewing nearly 700 Waymo-related incidents since January 2025. Waymo said these incidents make up a tiny fraction of its service.
Waymo mainly operates in California, Arizona and Texas, though Georgia has been a testing ground.
The company is planning to expand into three more Texas cities next year: Dallas, Houston and San Antonio.
Written by: Xavier Walton @NewsNation
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