NHTSA Questions Whether Waymo’s School Bus Fix Worked for 2,895 Robotaxis

• NHTSA opened a recall query on November 6 covering 2,895 Waymo robotaxis to test whether a software fix for passing school buses worked.
• The agency says a majority of the reported incidents came after November 17, 2025, the day Waymo said every affected vehicle had the update.
• A recall query is not a new recall, and the law for human drivers is unchanged: stop when a school bus shows red lights or an extended stop arm.

The Fix Was Supposed to End the Problem, and Federal Regulators Now Want Proof

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened recall query RQ26006 on November 6, 2026, and the agency made it public on Monday, November 9. The query covers 2,895 Waymo vehicles running the company’s fifth-generation automated driving system. Its question is direct: did the software update that Waymo rolled out under its December 2025 recall stop its driverless cars from driving past school buses that have flashing red lights?

NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) found that a majority of the incidents it logged came after November 17, 2025. That is the date the recall paperwork says the remedy was finished on every affected vehicle. In its opening text for the query, ODI wrote: “ODI is opening this Recall Query (RQ) to assess the adequacy of the remedy for Recall 25E084 and to identify the cause(s) of the conditions leading to the post-remedy reports.”

For a driver, the practical result is narrow. The review is about one company’s software, and it changes nothing about what you must do when a school bus stops in front of you. It does show that NHTSA checks whether a software recall worked after the repair is done, and that a company announcing a fix does not close the file.

What NHTSA Is Reviewing and What It Has Not Decided

A recall query asks one thing: did a completed recall work? NHTSA does not say the Waymo fix failed. The agency says the reports raise the question, and it wrote in its closing text for the earlier investigation: “This calls into question the effectiveness of the recall remedy.”

The numbers sit close together. The December 2025 recall covered 3,067 vehicles. The new query covers 2,895, which is 172 fewer. The published records do not explain the difference, so it stays an open detail until NHTSA or Waymo does.

Waymo has pointed to a different measure. “We have made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses and have received no citations since March 2026,” the company said in a statement. Citations and the incidents in NHTSA’s record are different counts, and the published records do not reconcile them. ODI’s text refers to reported incidents that followed the fix. NHTSA also said it is concentrating on violations that happen while children are getting on or off a bus. Waymo also said it plans to answer the government’s questions while it keeps upgrading its driving software.

How a Robotaxi Problem Became a Federal Case

The first federal probe, Preliminary Evaluation 25013, began on October 17, 2025, following an Atlanta incident in which a Waymo went around a stopped school bus. ODI gave it three targets: how Waymo’s driving system behaves near stopped school buses, whether its design builds in school bus law, and how reliably it obeys that law.

School districts supplied the evidence. The Austin Independent School District in Texas documented 19 distinct violations, including one in which a driverless car paused briefly, then drove on as a student crossed the street. Public schools in Atlanta, Georgia, recorded six more violations. Human drivers who pass a stopped school bus in Georgia face a separate risk: our report on Georgia’s school bus camera fines covers the $1,000 citations mailed in Cherokee County.

Waymo filed recall 25E084 on December 10, 2025. NHTSA’s recall record says vehicles running software from before the November 5, 2025 release could drive past a halted school bus that was flashing red lights, extending its stop arm, or doing both. The listed consequence is blunt: “Passing a stopped school bus increases risk of crash with a pedestrian.” The remedy was a software update at no charge to the owner, and the record says every affected vehicle had it by November 17, 2025. That is 23 days before the paperwork was filed.

Then, on November 6, 2026, ODI closed the preliminary evaluation and opened the recall query in its place. Separately, NHTSA opened another probe in January 2026 after a Waymo car hit a child close to a Santa Monica, California, elementary school.

Why a Recall Query Is Not a New Recall

Federal safety work moves in steps. Complaints and reports lead to an investigation. An investigation can lead to a recall. A recall query comes after the recall, and it tests the repair. If NHTSA decides the update left the defect in place, Waymo could need to make another safety fix. Neither result has been reached.

The open item is the cause. ODI says it will identify the cause or causes of the conditions behind the post-remedy reports. Until Waymo answers and the agency reports back, nobody outside the company and the agency can say why incidents continued after November 17, 2025. NHTSA’s public record lists the query as open.

The same regulator is watching school zones from a second angle. Our coverage of NHTSA’s Tesla robotaxi school zone petition shows the agency also reviewing Tesla’s driverless fleet over speeding in active school zones.

What Drivers and Parents Should Do

The rule for every driver is the same whether the car next to you has a person in it or not. Passing a school bus that has its stop arm out and red lights flashing is illegal in every state, NHTSA says. Yellow flashing lights tell you the bus is about to stop, so slow down and get ready to stop. Red flashing lights and an extended stop arm mean children are getting on or off. Stop, and stay stopped until the lights stop flashing, the stop arm is withdrawn and the bus begins moving.

Children are most exposed on the approach to the bus and as they leave it. NHTSA notes that they wait at least several feet away from the bus and often cross the street to board or get off, which is why NHTSA says you must stop for a school bus and not attempt to pass. Fines for passing vary by state, and some run high. Missouri’s $500 school bus fines are one example, so check your own state’s penalty before you assume a rolling stop is safe.

Parents can reduce the danger at the stop itself. NHTSA advises that a child arrive at least five minutes before the bus, wait at least ten feet from the curb and never walk behind the bus. A child who must cross in front should walk to a spot at least ten feet ahead of the bus, make eye contact with the driver first and tell the driver at once if something drops near the bus, rather than reaching for it.

If you see a driverless car or any vehicle pass a stopped school bus, report it to the school district or local police with the time, place and bus number. If you think a vehicle you own has a safety defect, file a complaint through NHTSA’s Report a Safety Problem page, as complaints help the agency open investigations that could lead to a recall. To check your own car, find the 17-character VIN on the lower left of the windshield, on your registration card or on your insurance card, and enter it at nhtsa.gov/recalls. The search shows unrepaired recalls for vehicles from certain manufacturers and can miss recently announced recalls whose VINs are not yet identified, so check again later. NHTSA’s SaferCar app sends an alert when it discovers a recall for a vehicle you entered.

What Happens Next

Waymo has said it will answer NHTSA’s questions. The next visible steps are the company’s response and the agency’s comparison of the incident reports against the November 17, 2025 date. The outcomes are a finding that the remedy was adequate or a second recall, with other results possible as the review runs. The published records give no end date for the query.

The numbers that matter for the rest of the school year are small and specific. NHTSA data show fatalities in school transportation related traffic crashes fell 14 percent, from 128 in 2023 to 110 in 2024, and that children riding school transportation account for under 1 percent of traffic deaths. NHTSA says the danger to children rises as they walk toward a bus or away from it, which is exactly where a driver’s decision to stop or not decides the outcome.

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Sources

• NHTSA: Investigation records RQ26006 and PE25013, Waymo AVs passing stopped school buses
• NHTSA: School Bus Safety
• Reuters via Khaleej Times: US opens probe into Waymo vehicles over school bus safety violations
• CBT News: NHTSA looking into Waymo’s school bus safety software fix

Reviewed by Preetam Gadekar