The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a new investigation into whether Waymo's software recall fixed robotaxis driving past stopped school buses. The agency says most incidents occurred after the remedy date, even though the recall was completed in November 2025. The National Transportation Safety Board is running a separate inquiry.
Federal regulators have opened a new investigation into whether Waymo’s software recall actually fixed a problem that led its robotaxis to drive past stopped school buses, months after the company pulled the vehicles in for an update.
Why is NHTSA investigating Waymo's recall again?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation began the query on Friday. The agency wants to know whether the update worked, and it pointed to a key concern: “a majority of incidents occurred after the... remedy date.”
The original probe documented Waymo robotaxis going past stopped school buses with flashing red lights and stop sign arms deployed. Those incidents were recorded in Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin, Texas. Waymo responded with a voluntary software recall covering robotaxis that ran red lights and stop signs near stopped school buses.
Did Waymo's school bus recall fix the problem?
The recall was installed across the entire robotaxi fleet and completed in November 2025. But the agency’s newest investigation suggests that finishing the update was not the same as solving the problem. NHTSA says it will determine whether the software fix worked and will work to identify the causes of the conditions that led to the reports filed after the remedy was applied.
The agency’s Office of Defects Investigation is also looking into a separate incident in which a Waymo robotaxi hit a child in Santa Monica, California, in January. That case is a different matter from the school bus issue, but it adds to the scrutiny the company is facing from federal officials.
Is the NTSB also investigating Waymo's school bus behavior?
The National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, opened its own investigation earlier this year into Waymo’s robotaxi behavior around stopped school buses. That inquiry runs alongside NHTSA’s work.
The outlet reached out to Waymo for comment and said it would update the story when the company responded.
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