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Last month, after weeks of pressure from the Austin Independent School District, Waymo issued a voluntary recall of its self-driving vehicles over a software issue that it said it had already fixed.
Weeks later, the issue has still not been resolved, as a new video emerged of a Waymo robotaxi putting students in danger.
Fast facts about Waymo:
- Waymo One is available 24/7 For customers in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area, effective July 2025
- Founded in 2009
- It passed the first self-driving test in the United States in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2012 (source:IEEE Spectrum)
- It was spun off from Alphabet as a separate subsidiary in 2016
In November, the Austin Independent School District Published videos Of the company’s robo-taxis that pass Austin school buses with posted stop signs and crossing bars.
Waymo robo-taxis were ticketing school buses an average of 1.5 times a week in Austin, Texas, from the start of the school year through November 20.
Austin ISD said it has been in contact with Waymo for weeks about the issue, even asking the company to halt operations between 5:20am and 9:30am and 3-7pm until the issue is actually resolved.
The school district stated that the company assured them that a software update to address the problem had already been implemented.
Waymo’s safety issue extends into December
On December 1, after Waymo received its 20th citation from Austin ISD for the current school year, Austin ISD decided to launch the video Previous violations in front of the public.
On December 5, Waymo announced that it would file a voluntary recall “early next week” to address the issue.
The company said at the time that it had identified the issue that caused the violations. The company also said it believes that Software updates implemented by November 17 “We have measurably improved performance to a level better than human drivers in this important area.”
RELATED: Waymo exec admits harsh truth about company’s safety record
But this wasn’t the first time Waymo has faced scrutiny over this particular issue.
the NHTSA has opened a preliminary evaluation in October to investigate an estimated 2,000 vehicles equipped with Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system, following a media report in Georgia that revealed the same school bus violation.
Agency Open another investigation Following the actions of Austin ISD.
“ODI is concerned that ADS-equipped vehicles that exhibit unpredictable driving behaviors or fail to comply with traffic safety laws related to school buses may increase the risk of collision, injury, and property damage,” NHTSA officials said.
Waymo’s safety issues extend into January
Despite several supposed software fixes, multiple NHTSA investigations, and recalls, Waymo vehicles are still passing Austin ISD school buses with their stop signs posted, putting children at risk.
Austin ISD issued a citation to Waymo, saying four more violations have occurred since Dec. 10, maintaining the company’s streak of 1.5 violations per week.
Local news station KXAN obtained and viewed videos showing at least 24 violations where school bus cameras catch Waymo vehicles illegally passing school buses.
TheStreet has not seen the December violations, however KXAN describes One of the videos.
Once again, Waymo says its software update is working.
“We have met with Austin ISD, including a collaborative dataset of different lighting patterns and conditions and are reviewing these learnings. We have seen a substantial improvement in our performance since updating our software,” a Waymo spokesperson told KXAN.
While Waymo’s 24 violations pale in comparison to the more than 7,000 violations from human drivers, 98% of people who receive one violation do not receive another, according to Austin Assistant Chief Travis Bickford.
“This tells us that the person is learning but it doesn’t appear that Waymo’s automation system is learning through its software updates and recovery, because we were still having violations all the way through last Monday,” Bickford told KXAN.
Waymo’s safety record is not what it seems
While the Austin ISD incident was the most high-profile, it wasn’t the only big mistake Waymo made in December.
In the week before Christmas, Waymo was forced to suspend service in San Francisco, as its vehicles apparently did not know the “four-stop” rule that applies to intersections with non-working traffic lights.
A massive power outage in the city, home to more than 800,000 people, left Waymo vehicles in a state of extreme disarray.
Vehicles It was filmed Stuck at many intersectionsNot sure how to do this Navigate the modeCausing more disruption on the roads as drivers move slowly through city blocks suffering from power outages.
RELATED: Waymo is back online in San Francisco, but may face difficulties after fiasco
After a steady decline for 30 years, road deaths in the United States have risen over the past decade.
Self-driving vehicles are supposed to help solve the problem of road accidents and deaths.
“Waymo is already improving road safety in the cities where we operate, resulting in more than a tenfold reduction in serious injuries or worse crashes,” Trent Victor, Waymo’s director of safety research and best practices, recently told Bloomberg.
But the data point to a more complex reality.
Waymo has driven nearly 127 million miles across its fleet and has been involved in at least two crashes that resulted in fatalities, according to Latest coverage by MSN. However, the self-driving car has not been found directly responsible for either.
The problem is that this actually represents a higher fatality-per-mile rate than the average American driver, who travels about 123 million miles per fatality, per Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
But even that statistic is irrelevant, according to Austin-based transportation attorney Trae Gober.
“What matters is not the accident rate per million miles driven, but situations like overtaking a stopped school bus or driving in inclement weather,” Gober told TheStreet. “Human drivers face emergencies all the time and have to be prepared.”
“Driverless ride-sharing companies deploy unprepared vehicles to avoid basic risks and make the public serve as guinea pigs for companies trying to get more market share. “It seems like they’re taking a calculated risk that they might infect a child, but as they develop the technology and get a bigger share of the market, that’s just the cost of doing business for them.”
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