Waymo robotaxis kept illegally passing school buses after the software fix, according to NHTSA

The U.S. federal highway safety agency (NHTSA) has opened a new investigation into Waymo because its robotaxis have continued to illegally pass stopped school buses with flashing red lights, even after the software update the company rolled out precisely to fix that behavior.

According to TechCrunch, citing an NHTSA document dated November 6 (first reported by Reuters), most of the reported incidents occurred after the update. Waymo had said last year that the software update was completed across all affected vehicles on November 17, 2025, after issuing a recall over the problem.

NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has opened a “recall query” to assess whether the remedy applied is adequate. In other words, the investigation no longer covers just the original defect, but the effectiveness of the fix Waymo deployed to correct it.

The case dates back to October 2025, when the ODI opened its initial investigation after seeing footage of a Waymo autonomous vehicle maneuvering around a stopped school bus in Atlanta. The bus had its stop arm extended, its flashing lights on and was letting children off. The robotaxi crossed perpendicularly in front of the bus from its right side, turned left around the front and continued on its way.

Since then, other incidents have been documented, including in Austin, where Waymo also operates a robotaxi service. According to a letter filed with NHTSA, the Austin Independent School District reported at least five such incidents at the time.

Waymo responded that it has made “significant improvements” to its vehicles' behavior around school buses and that it has not received any citations since March 2026. A spokesperson also argued that the Waymo Driver has a “demonstrated positive impact” on road safety, said the company will respond to NHTSA's query once it receives it and said it hopes to keep collaborating on recall processes applicable to autonomous vehicle software that continues to learn and improve. TechCrunch also contacted the Austin school district and plans to update the story if it responds.

The story raises a broader question: how recalls are regulated when the “fix” is a software update that changes continuously. The article does not detail how many incidents occurred before or after the update, nor does it offer specific figures beyond those cited, so it is worth waiting for Waymo's formal response and NHTSA's conclusions to assess the true scope of the problem.