The US’s main transportation safety regulator said on Monday it had opened a preliminary investigation into about 2,000 Waymo self-driving vehicles after reports that the company’s robotaxis may have failed to follow traffic safety laws around stopped school buses.
The investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is the latest federal review of self-driving systems as regulators scrutinize how driverless technologies interact with pedestrians, cyclists and other road users.
NHTSA said the Office of Defects Investigation opened the review after flagging a media report describing an incident in which a Waymo autonomous vehicle did not remain stationary when approaching a school bus with its red lights flashing, stop arm deployed and crossing control arm extended.
The report said the Waymo vehicle initially stopped beside the bus then maneuvered around its front, passing the extended stop arm and crossing control arm while students were disembarking.
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Waymo has said its robotaxi fleet has more than 1,500 vehicles operating across major US cities, including Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin and New York City next year. The Alphabet-owned company also plans to expand internationally, with launches in cities including London in 2026 Tokyo in the coming years.
A Waymo spokesperson said the company had “already developed and implemented improvements related to stopping for school buses and will land additional software updates in our next software release”.
The company added: “Driving safely around children has always been one of Waymo’s highest priorities. In the event referenced, the vehicle approached the school bus from an angle where the flashing lights and stop sign were not visible and drove slowly around the front of the bus before driving past it, keeping a safe distance from children.”
NHTSA said the vehicle involved was equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system and was operating without a human safety driver at the time of the incident.
