US safety regulators are asking whether Waymo’s fix for passing stopped school buses actually worked. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a filing dated November 6 that a majority of the reported incidents happened after a software update meant to fix the problem, and it has opened a recall query to assess the adequacy of the remedy, according to TechCrunch, SRN News (relaying Reuters) and CBS News.
The background. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened its first probe in October 2025, after footage from Atlanta showed a robotaxi crossing in front of a school bus whose stop sign was extended and whose lights were flashing while children were unloaded. Waymo then recalled vehicles in December 2025. CBS News puts the recall at 3,067 vehicles, and Waymo said the software update was completed for all affected vehicles on November 17, 2025, according to TechCrunch.
What changed. The new filing says most of the reported incidents came after the update was installed. Austin Independent School District officials reported at least five such incidents at the time, according to a letter filed with NHTSA. TechCrunch says Reuters was first to report the filing.
What a recall query is. It is a step in which the regulator checks whether a recall’s remedy was enough. It is not a finding that Waymo broke the law. TechCrunch’s opening says regulators have opened a new investigation, while the body of its article describes a recall query, so the two terms refer to the same step.
The numbers differ. Reuters, via SRN News, says the query covers 2,895 vehicles, while another outlet reported 2,985, so the vehicle count differs by report. TechCrunch’s article does not state the total number of incidents, the number after the update, or the number of vehicles. Reports also differ on the date: TechCrunch cites a November 6 filing, while SRN News says the query was opened on November 9.
Waymo’s side. TechCrunch reached out to Waymo and Austin Independent School District officials and said it would update if they responded, and no response was included. Waymo had said last year that the update was completed on November 17, 2025.
Why it matters. School buses with flashing red lights are among the clearest rules on the road, and robotaxis are supposed to handle them better than people. If a software fix did not fully work, regulators may require a new fix or more recalls. The finding matters for the cities where Waymo is expanding, including those in the US and abroad.
What to watch. Look for Waymo’s response, the total incident count, whether NHTSA requires a further remedy, and any effect on Waymo’s expansion plans.
Sources: TechCrunch, SRN News (citing Reuters) and CBS News. Details are as reported and the counts differ between outlets.
School bus (representative image), Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
