Waymo robotaxis land in NHTSA crosshairs over school bus violation

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced the launch of a preliminary investigation into approximately 2,000 Waymo robotaxis following reports of a safety violation involving a stationary school bus in Atlanta, Georgia. 

Federal and state traffic laws require all vehicles to stop and remain stationary when they see a school bus with red lights flashing, stop arm extended, and crossing control arm deployed while unloading students. 

However, video footage shows one of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles maneuvering around one such school bus.

NHTSA scrutinizes Waymo’s robotaxis 

The probe is the latest scrutiny of self-driving systems by regulators reviewing how driverless technologies affect other road users. This episode comes after a video of an incident in Georgia involving a Waymo car and a stationary school bus that had its red lights flashing and stop arm deployed.

According to a report, the Waymo vehicle initially paused, but then it maneuvered around the bus, passing the extended stop arm even though students were still disembarking.

Waymo’s automated driving system is currently logging 2 million miles per week, according to the agency, and it has confirmed that the “likelihood of other prior similar incidents is high.” 

While the statement is concerning, some reassurance has come from the company as it claimed to be working hard to make improvements that will roll out with the next update. 

How Waymo has responded to the probe 

Given the novelty of what Waymo is trying to accomplish in the self-driving car sector, probes and occasions that encourage them are to be expected. 

However, the company is not relenting and a Waymo spokesperson has claimed it has “already developed and implemented improvements related to stopping for school buses and will land additional software updates in our next software release.”

The company has also reiterated a commitment to creating products that prioritize child safety, explaining that it had “approached the school bus from an angle where the flashing lights and stop sign were not visible and drove slowly around the front of the bus before driving past it, keeping a safe distance from children.”

It is crucial to note that the vehicle involved had been equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation Automated Driving System and was operating without a human safety driver at the time of the incident. 

There were also no injuries reported in the incident, but it has highlighted the issues AV perception systems face in edge cases like those involving obscured signals. 

The company currently operates over 1,500 robotaxis in cities like Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Austin, and has plans to expand to Nashville in 2026 via a partnership with Lyft.

Waymo has already logged over 100 million rider-only miles in 2025, but rare errors like this can amplify safety concerns for public trust and policy.  

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