The 10-Second Version (AI Summary)
What happened: NHTSA is reviewing whether Waymo's school bus software fix actually worked.
Why it matters: Most violations happened after Waymo said the remedy was complete.
What to do: Expect closer scrutiny of autonomous vehicles' behavior at low speeds.
AI-generated and reviewed by the ASOTU team.
Nobody asked most of us to live in big tech's test kitchen.
A fleet can be safer on average and still fail at one bus stop. For a parent, that one bus stop is the only stop that matters, and it's the last place anyone wants to learn that a software update didn't take. We talked through it on today's episode of the Automotive State of the Union.
NHTSA opened a recall query Monday into 2,895 Waymo robotaxis.
Reuters reports that investigators want to know why the violations continued after Waymo's fix.
How did Waymo's school bus problem unfold?
October 2025: NHTSA opens a preliminary evaluation into Waymo vehicles passing stopped school buses.
November 2025: Waymo says it has completed the software remedy on all affected vehicles.
December 2025: The fix is formalized under a recall.
January 2026: A Waymo strikes a child near a Santa Monica elementary school. NHTSA and the NTSB open probes.
March 2026: Waymo receives its last school bus citation, according to the company.
Nov. 9, 2026: NHTSA closes the original evaluation and opens a recall query.
The Austin school district documented 19 violations and issued $300 tickets. Atlanta Public Schools recorded six more. The NTSB is also investigating the school bus incidents. Waymo says it has made significant improvements and will respond to NHTSA.
Most of the violations came after Waymo said the problem was fixed.
What does a robotaxi do at walking speed?
Our team rode in several driverless vehicles in Los Angeles over the past week. At normal speeds, they felt confident. In pickup zones, they crept forward a few feet, stopped, and crept again, as if they couldn't decide where they belonged.
"It seems to get confused in situations when things are moving slowly." (Paul J. Daly)
A school bus stop is exactly that kind of slow, unpredictable scene. Human drivers pass stopped buses too, often enough that districts mount cameras on the stop arms. Robots may well do it less often, but the comparison is thinner than it looks. A fleet of about 3,000 cars hasn't logged enough miles to measure rare events like a bus pass with much confidence. Robotaxis also run in chosen cities on mapped roads, while human drivers take every road in every kind of weather.
So the standard for a machine at a bus stop should be zero. The good news is that this is a software problem, and software problems get solved. Waymo will need to prove it has solved this one.
