Federal safety regulators have opened a new investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis continued to illegally pass stopped school buses even after the company deployed a software update intended to fix the problem.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced in a November 6, 2026 filing that a majority of the reported school bus incidents occurred after Waymo rolled out its corrective software update. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) has opened a “recall query” to “assess the adequacy of the remedy.”
Waymo had stated that the software update was completed across all affected vehicles on November 17, 2025, following an initial ODI investigation opened in October 2025. That investigation was triggered by footage of a Waymo robotaxi maneuvering around a stopped school bus in Atlanta — one that had its stop sign extended, lights flashing, and was actively unloading children. In that incident, the autonomous vehicle crossed perpendicularly in front of the bus from its right side, then turned left around the front of the bus before continuing down the street.
Additional incidents have since been documented in Austin, Texas, where Waymo also operates a robotaxi service. Austin Independent School District officials reported at least five such incidents in a letter filed with NHTSA.
The continued violations despite a software recall suggest the fix may not have fully resolved the underlying issue in Waymo’s self-driving system. The new federal inquiry could have significant implications for Waymo’s operations and its ability to expand its autonomous vehicle service. TechCrunch, which first covered the NHTSA filing, said it reached out to Waymo and Austin Independent School District officials for comment.
Source: TechCrunch