The US traffic safety authority, NHTSA, is investigating nearly 3,000 robotaxis operated by Alphabet subsidiary Waymo. The investigations were triggered by repeated violations by the driverless taxis, which overtook stopped school buses in defiance of traffic regulations – even though the buses were signalling to stop with flashing red lights.
The authority classifies the case as a so-called recall review to determine why a software update deployed by Waymo at the end of 2025 failed to rectify the issue. Although the company announced in November 2025 that a corresponding fix had been installed on all affected vehicles, the majority of recorded violations occurred after this measure.
In Austin, Texas alone, 19 incidents were documented, with Waymo fined US$300 for each offence. In Atlanta, at least six further violations were recorded. Against this backdrop, the NHTSA concluded a preliminary investigation initiated in October 2025 and seamlessly transitioned it into the new probe.
In a statement, Waymo emphasised that the behaviour of its vehicles around school buses had improved since March, and no further fines had been issued.
However, Waymo remains under strong regulatory and public pressure, as the NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have launched separate investigations into a specific accident on 23 January 2026 near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California. There, a robotaxi collided with a child.
The incidents have fuelled the debate about the actual safety of autonomous vehicles. Critics and experts argue that Waymo’s much-touted positive safety statistics are primarily due to the fact that the vehicles have so far operated mainly in highly controlled, precisely mapped areas with low speeds – and that absolute safety does not exist in autonomous road traffic either.
