Feds investigate Waymo recall after continued school bus violations
A Waymo taxi in Atlanta. Self-driving taxi. on October 30, 2026 in Atlanta, USA. (Photo by Thomas Imo/Photothek for the German Federal Foreign Office via Getty Images)
A federal investigation has been launched into a previous recall of nearly 3,000 Waymo self-driving vehicles following continued reports of traffic safety violations involving school buses.
What we know:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the investigation will determine whether a software update issued to address the problem failed to prevent Waymo vehicles from illegally passing stopped school buses with flashing red lights.
The backstory:
In December 2025, Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, issued a recall after identifying 19 instances of its driverless vehicles illegally passing school buses since the beginning of that school year.
According to NHTSA, most of the reported violations occurred after November 2025, when Waymo said it had completed deploying the software fix to all affected vehicles.
Federal investigators will now examine why the violations continued despite the update and whether additional corrective measures are necessary.
The Source: This story was written with information provided by Reuters. This story was reported from Orlando.