NHTSA Probes Whether Waymo's School Bus Recall Actually Worked

How the case got here

The recall followed an earlier NHTSA probe. That investigation found documented cases of Waymo robotaxis driving past stopped school buses that had flashing red lights and extended stop sign arms, in Atlanta, Georgia, and Austin, Texas. Waymo then issued a voluntary software recall. The update was installed across the whole fleet and completed in November 2025.

A Waymo spokesperson said that "safety is central to Waymo's mission, and operating safely around school buses is a responsibility we take seriously." The company says it has received no citations since March 2026. It plans to respond to NHTSA's query once it receives it and said it looks forward to continuing its engagement on recall processes for AV software that "continues to learn and improve."

More scrutiny on Waymo

The query is not the only federal attention on the company. NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation has also opened a probe into an incident in which a Waymo robotaxi hit a child in Santa Monica, California, in January. Separately, the National Transportation Safety Board, an independent federal agency, launched its own investigation earlier this year into how Waymo's robotaxis behave around stopped school buses.

The outcome matters beyond one company. If regulators conclude the remedy fell short, it could raise questions about how over-the-air software recalls are verified for autonomous vehicles, which are updated continuously. For now, Waymo will have to respond to NHTSA's questions about why incidents continued after the fix was rolled out.