Waymo Robotaxis Pass Stopped School Buses

Physical agent · Robotaxi · Found first by developer

Waymo robotaxis in Atlanta and Austin drove past school buses stopped with red lights and stop arms out, leading to an NHTSA investigation and a software recall. Waymo's own monitoring caught the first pass, but the fix kept failing in Austin until NHTSA pressure turned it into a formal recall.

Timeline of Waymo Robotaxis Pass Stopped School Buses: Sep 22, Waymo passes bus in Atlanta; Oct 17, NHTSA opens PE25-013; Nov 20, Austin ISD reports 19 passes; Dec 10, Waymo recalls 3,067 vehicles. Below, the reporting rules that applied: NHTSA defect and recall reports (Part 573), applied; NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01, not triggered. FROM FIRST PASS TO RECALL OCT 1 NOV 1 DEC 1 SEP 22 Waymo passes bus in Atlanta OCT 17 NHTSA opens PE25-013 NOV 20 Austin ISD reports 19 passes DEC 10 Waymo recalls 3,067 vehicles REPORTING RULES AND THIS INCIDENT NHTSA recall reports RECALL 25E-084 APPLIED NHTSA crash reporting NO CRASH OCCURRED NOT TRIGGERED
Agent class
Physical
Developer
Waymo
Operator
Waymo, Atlanta and Austin
Found first by
Developer
Date
Sep 2025
Vehicles recalled
3,067

What happened

The Software Put Clearing the Way Ahead of a Stopped Bus

  • Cause: the software sometimes moved off because it judged it was blocking a priority vehicle.
  • Austin: the school district logged 19 violations and asked Waymo to stop running during bus hours.
  • After the fix: the district said at least five violations happened after Waymo's update.
  • Damage: no collisions.

Timeline

From One Atlanta Video to a Federal Recall

Timeline
DateEventSource
September 22, 2025A Waymo in Atlanta drives around a stopped school bus with its stop arm outNHTSA
October 17, 2025NHTSA opens a preliminary evaluationNHTSA
November 20, 2025Austin ISD reports 19 violations and asks Waymo to stop during bus hoursTechCrunch
December 10, 2025Waymo files recall 25E-084NHTSA

Controls that failed

The Fix Kept Failing in Austin

Controls that failed
ControlCompanyWhat failed137AI page
School bus stop ruleWaymoSoftware released from August 20 to November 5, 2025, sometimes moved off from a stopped busBehavioral Envelopes
Fix verificationWaymoViolations continued in Austin after the November updateMonitoring and Anomaly Detection

Reporting

The Recall Rule Applied; Crash Reporting Did Not

Reporting rules and this incident
RuleStatusWhy
NHTSA defect and recall reports (Part 573)AppliedWaymo filed a recall for 3,067 vehicles
NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01Not triggeredThe order covers crashes, and none occurred

Every rule tracked is on Incident Reporting Rules and Registries.

Response

An Investigation and a Recall

  • Regulators and courts: NHTSA opened preliminary evaluation PE25-013 on October 17, 2025, and wrote to Waymo again on December 3. Waymo counts 12 citations tied to the behavior.
  • Remediation: Waymo pushed a software fix to all vehicles from November 5 to 17, 2025, and filed it as recall 25E-084 on December 10.

Record

Incident Record

Incident ID
2025-09-WAYMO-SCHOOL-BUS
AI Incident Database
Incident 1300
Sources
NHTSA PE25-013 (October 2025); NHTSA recall 25E-084 (December 2025); TechCrunch (December 2025)
Last verified
October 2026