Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company Waymo has announced it will voluntarily file a software recall with federal regulators next week. This decision comes in response to multiple reports that its self-driving cars repeatedly failed to stop for school buses displaying extended stop signs and flashing lights.
Safety Issue and Immediate Response
The company identified the problematic behavior and rolled out an update to its robotaxi software on November 17. Waymo claims this fix has now enhanced the vehicles' performance in such scenarios, pushing it beyond human driver standards. According to reports, no injuries have been linked to the incidents that prompted this recall.
Federal Probe and Multiple Incidents
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated an investigation in October. This was triggered after footage emerged showing a Waymo vehicle in Atlanta maneuvering around a stopped school bus that was unloading children. The autonomous car was seen crossing perpendicularly in front of the bus from its right side, then turning left around the front before proceeding down the street.
Officials from the Austin School District reported a concerning pattern, documenting 19 separate incidents this year where Waymo robotaxis illegally passed stopped school buses. Alarmingly, at least five of these violations occurred even after the November software update was deployed. In one documented case, a Waymo vehicle passed a stopped bus just moments after a student had crossed in front of it and was still in the roadway.
Company Statement and Regulatory Scrutiny
In a statement, Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña emphasized the company's commitment to safety. "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," Peña said.
The NHTSA has escalated its scrutiny, sending Waymo a detailed information request on December 3. The agency has set a deadline of January 20, 2026, for the company's response. In its request, NHTSA highlighted that with Waymo vehicles having driven over 100 million miles and now accumulating 2 million miles weekly, the probability of other similar prior incidents is high.
This marks Waymo's third voluntary software recall. Earlier in 2024, the company issued recalls, including one after a vehicle in Phoenix collided with a telephone pole during a low-speed maneuver without a human safety operator present.
