The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a new inquiry into Waymo after finding that most reported cases of its robotaxis illegally passing stopped school buses happened after the company’s software recall meant to fix the problem. In a filing dated November 6, 2026, NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation said it opened a “recall query” to assess whether Waymo’s remedy is adequate, TechCrunch reported on Monday. Waymo says it has received no citations for the behavior since March 2026.
What NHTSA found
The problem dates back more than a year. NHTSA’s defects office opened its first investigation in October 2025 after footage from Atlanta showed a Waymo vehicle driving around a school bus that had stopped, extended its stop arm, turned on its flashing red lights and was letting children off. In that incident the robotaxi crossed in front of the bus from its right side and then turned left around it.
Waymo responded with a software update and a recall, saying the fix was completed on all affected vehicles by November 17, 2025. According to the new filing, however, the majority of the incidents reported to the agency occurred after that date. Many were documented in Austin, where Waymo also runs a robotaxi service; Austin Independent School District officials reported at least five incidents in a letter filed with NHTSA at the time.
Waymo’s response
In a statement to TechCrunch, a Waymo spokesperson said the company has made “significant improvements” to how its vehicles behave around school buses and has received no citations since March 2026. The company said it would respond to NHTSA’s query once it receives it and pointed to what it calls the Waymo Driver’s positive effect on road safety overall.
The two accounts are not necessarily in conflict. Waymo’s statement covers the period since March, while NHTSA’s concern is that the November 2025 fix did not stop the behavior in the months right after it shipped. The agency now wants to know whether the remedy, as delivered, did its job.
What a recall query means
A recall query is one of the formal investigation types run by NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation. It is used when the agency has questions about a recall that has already happened: whether it covered all affected vehicles and whether the fix works. It can end with no action, with the manufacturer agreeing to a new or expanded recall, or with the agency pushing for one.
For driverless cars the process works differently from a traditional recall. There is no dealer visit; Waymo pushes new software to its fleet over the air. That makes fixes fast, but it also makes them harder for outsiders to evaluate, because a behavior change in a driving model can improve one situation while leaving similar ones untouched. Waymo’s own phrasing, a recall process for “AV software that continues to learn and improve,” points at that tension: regulators are used to verifying a fixed part, not a system that keeps changing.
Why school buses are a hard case
Stopped school buses combine several things automated drivers find hard: a large vehicle that blocks the view, a legal rule that differs from normal traffic (all lanes must stop in most states, sometimes even on the opposite side of the road), and children who may step out unpredictably. A human driver learns the flashing red lights and stop arm as a strong, simple rule. A learned driving model has to recognize the bus, its state and the road layout correctly every time, including from unusual angles such as the side approach in the Atlanta video.
It is also a case where public tolerance is close to zero. Our explainer on how self-driving safety is measured describes why aggregate crash rates, where Waymo reports favorable results, do not settle questions about specific, high-stakes behaviors like this one.
Who is affected
Riders are not directly affected, since the issue concerns how the vehicles treat other road users. School districts in Waymo’s service areas are, and Austin’s experience shows they are now documenting incidents themselves. For the robotaxi industry, the outcome will shape how regulators treat over-the-air remedies, a question that matters as more cities consider expansion. Our analysis of why robotaxis are hard to scale covers the other pressures on operators.
What to watch next
- Waymo’s formal response to the recall query and any data it releases on incidents since March 2026.
- Whether NHTSA requests a new or expanded recall covering school bus behavior.
- Reports from school districts in Austin, Atlanta and other Waymo cities.
- How regulators adapt recall rules to software that changes frequently over the air.
Key takeaways
- NHTSA opened a recall query into Waymo in a November 6, 2026 filing.
- Most reported school bus passing incidents occurred after Waymo’s November 2025 software fix.
- Austin school officials had reported at least five incidents; the first probe followed an Atlanta video.
- Waymo says behavior has improved and it has received no citations since March 2026.
- The case tests how regulators verify over-the-air fixes for driverless vehicles.
Frequently asked questions
What is NHTSA investigating at Waymo?
NHTSA is examining whether Waymo’s 2025 software recall adequately fixed robotaxis passing stopped school buses, after finding most reported incidents happened after the update.
What is a recall query?
A recall query is an NHTSA defects investigation into a recall that already happened, used to check whether the remedy works and whether it covered all affected vehicles.
Has Waymo fixed the school bus problem?
Waymo says it has made significant improvements and received no citations since March 2026. NHTSA has not yet concluded whether the remedy is adequate.
