US opens probe into Waymo vehicles over school bus safety violations

WASHINGTON - The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Nov 9 it had opened a recall query into 2,895 vehicles operated by Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo over continued traffic safety violations involving the vehicles’ behaviour when encountering school buses.

The probe will look into nearly 3,000 company-owned self-driving vehicles. Investigators want to determine whether a software update Waymo rolled out late in 2025 failed to stop its driverless cars from passing school buses with flashing red lights.

Most of the violations happened after the company said the remedy had been deployed.

In October 2025, NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation into the issue of Waymo vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses.

The agency closed that investigation on Nov 9 in favour of the new recall query to determine the cause of the additional violations.

In Austin, Texas, the independent school district documented 19 distinct violations and issued numerous $300 tickets to Waymo.

Six other violations were recorded by public schools in Atlanta.

NHTSA said it was reviewing whether a software update implemented by Waymo under a December 2025 recall adequately addressed a defect that could cause Waymo vehicles to pass school buses displaying flashing red lights or extended stop arms after initially slowing or stopping.

The auto safety regulator said most of the incidents occurred after November 2025, when Waymo said it had completed the software remedy for all affected vehicles.

The recall query will assess the adequacy of the remedy and determine the causes of the post-remedy incidents, NHTSA said.

“We have made significant improvements to vehicle behaviour around school buses and have received no citations since March,” Waymo said in a statement.

It said it will respond to NHTSA’s query and “look forward to continuing our engagement on recall processes for AV software that continues to learn and improve.”

Separately, NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board have opened probes after one of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles struck a child in January near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California.

The NTSB is also investigating the incidents of Waymo vehicles passing stopped school buses. REUTERS