NTSB opens second US probe into Waymo school bus incidents

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has opened an investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis continued to illegally pass stopped school buses despite one software update and one software recall. Waymo vehicles have made at least 19 illegal passes in Austin, Texas since the start of the school year; investigators are now travelling to Austin to gather information on incidents.

The Alphabet unit issued a voluntary software recall in both November and December for its entire fleet of over 3,000 vehicles to address the behaviour. Austin Independent School District has stated that the violations have persisted, with the most recent known incident occurring in mid-January. The district has asked Waymo to cease operations during the morning and afternoon school hours until it could guarantee legal compliance. 

Waymo has refused to suspend its robotaxi services, indicating it prioritises the availability of its service over the demands of local education authorities. In a statement to TechCrunch, Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña emphasised that no actual collisions have taken place involving school buses, and said he was “confident that our safety performance around school buses is superior to human drivers”. He added that the technology “safely navigates thousands of school bus encounters weekly across the United States, and the Waymo Driver is continuously improving”.

“We see this as an opportunity to provide the NTSB with transparent insights into our safety-first approach,” he remarked. School districts, however, are unconvinced. “We cannot allow Waymo to continue endangering our students while it attempts to implement a fix,” a lawyer for the school district wrote, noting a robotaxi was recorded driving past a stopped bus moments after a student crossed in front of the vehicle while still in the road. At least six school bus-related incidents are also reported to have occurred in Atlanta, Georgia.

The investigation is one of a small handful of teething problems Waymo’s self-driving technology has been forced to reckon with in the last year. The company’s entire San Francisco fleet froze and blocked traffic during a December power outage wherein vehicles were confused by non-functioning traffic lights.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened its own separate probe into the school bus incidents in October, prior to either software update. It should be noted that, unlike NHTSA, NTSB has little or no enforcement power, although its recommendations generally form the basis of future policy.