U.S. Review Covers 2,895 Waymo Vehicles to Test School Bus Fix

Key Facts

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a recall review covering 2,895 vehicles operated by Waymo, according to a Reuters report on November 9, 2026. The review aims to assess whether a previous software repair addressed a flaw that could cause a vehicle to pass a stopped school bus. The behavior involves a bus with flashing red lights or an extended stop arm, after the vehicle has first slowed down or stopped. Reuters said the regulator will assess the adequacy of the repair and determine the causes of incidents reported afterward. That puts the previous update under scrutiny as violations involving school buses continue to be recorded.

The flaw is linked to a recall Waymo filed with NHTSA on December 10, 2025, covering 3,067 fifth-generation automated driving systems. The recall report said the system may determine that the vehicle is obstructing a school bus or another priority vehicle, then decide to continue moving. This may happen before the bus's warning lights are turned off or its stop arm is retracted, signals that require other vehicles to remain stopped. The report said passing the bus could increase the risk of a collision compared with remaining in place, but noted that no collisions linked to this behavior had occurred. Waymo said it was aware of 12 recorded violations that occurred between September 25 and November 14, 2025.

Waymo said it updated the software in all affected vehicles between November 5 and 17, 2025, and no additional recall schedule for owners or dealers was needed. But most reported incidents occurred after November 2025, when the company said it had completed the repair for all affected vehicles, Reuters reported. That chronology is central to the new review, which will examine whether the repair was adequate and investigate the causes of subsequent incidents. It reopens the regulatory question of how effective the previous remedy was, without signaling a new recall. The current review covers 2,895 vehicles, while the potential number covered by the earlier recall report was 3,067 systems.

Local incidents cited by Reuters include a record of 19 separate violations in the Austin school district. In one incident, a driverless vehicle stopped briefly and then continued while a student was crossing the street. Atlanta Public Schools recorded six other violations, according to the report. These incidents provide examples of continued reports of vehicle behavior near school buses after the company announced its repair. NHTSA is examining the causes of subsequent incidents and the adequacy of the repair as part of its recall review.

Oversight of the issue began before the current review: NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation on October 17, 2025, into Waymo's system performance near school buses, to determine the scope of the problem and look for similar incidents. According to the recall report, the behavior appeared with a software release issued on August 20, 2025, before it was widely deployed in mid-September. Waymo identified the first known incident on September 22, 2025, when a vehicle slowed to 5 miles per hour near a bus and then moved before the stop arm was retracted, without a violation being issued. In a follow-up letter dated November 24, 2025, NHTSA asked the company to clarify whether it had suspended operations during student pick-up and drop-off times and whether an appropriate fix had been developed. The agency also opened a separate investigation in January 2026 after a Waymo vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica.

The National Transportation Safety Board's investigations into the Austin incident and similar events are ongoing to determine the probable cause, with safety recommendations planned. In its 2025 preliminary evaluation, NHTSA said Waymo's system operated about 2 million miles per week and that the likelihood of similar prior incidents was high. The agency also said the system had surpassed 100 million miles driven by July 2025. The current recall review is examining the effect of the repair on incidents reported afterward, alongside the continuing NTSB investigation. The report did not specify a date for completing the review or issuing its findings.