Waymo recalls certain models after reports of vehicles not stopping for school buses

Certain vehicles from Waymo are being voluntarily recalled because they may not stop for a school bus.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation in October to find similar incidents after a media outlet reported a Waymo AV that did not stop when a school bus was flashing red lights.

This recall includes all Waymo 5th Generation ADS vehicles currently operating in the United States, according to an investigation letter.

In the investigation’s associated documents, there is a letter from the Austin Independent School District reporting a total of 19 instances of Waymo automated vehicles not stopping for Austin ISD buses since the 2025-2026 school year began.

The district also said that one incident allegedly happened right after a student crossed in front of the Waymo vehicle and was still in the act of crossing the road.

Austin ISD is asking Waymo to cease operations during its drop-off and pick-up hours. This would be between 5:20 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., as well as 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The NHTSA has reached out to Waymo’s senior director, Matthew Schwall, to ask if Waymo has ceased its operations in Austin, as requested, or is planning on another fix to mitigate the issue.

When contacted by KSAT, Mauricio Peña, Chief Safety Officer (CSO) of Waymo, said that a software issue, which has since been identified, contributed to the incidents.

“We moved quickly to address the issue once it was identified,” Peña said. ”We believe that the software updates implemented by Nov. 17 have meaningfully improved performance to a level better than human drivers in this important area."

Peña went on to say that Waymo is working collaboratively with the NHTSA while this investigation occurs.

“While we are incredibly proud of our strong safety record showing Waymo experiences twelve times fewer injury crashes involving pedestrians than human drivers, holding the highest safety standards means recognizing when our behavior should be better,” Peña added. “As a result, we have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to appropriately slowing and stopping in these scenarios. We will continue analyzing our vehicles’ performance and making necessary fixes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement.”

Waymo has not yet responded to follow-up questions from KSAT, including whether this would affect its debut to complete autonomous driving in San Antonio.

Read also:

• Waymo self-driving cars will soon go fully autonomous in San Antonio, company says
• Waymo is hitting the highway. Here’s what to know about the robotaxi’s expanded service