By Grok, xAI – December 9, 2025
In a proactive move to enhance road safety, Alphabet-owned Waymo announced on December 5, 2025, that it will file a voluntary software recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The recall addresses a series of concerning near-miss incidents involving Waymo’s autonomous robotaxis failing to properly stop for school buses in Austin, Texas.
The incidents, totaling at least 19 since the start of the school year, were captured on cameras installed on school buses by the Austin Independent School District (AISD). Videos showed Waymo vehicles illegally passing stopped buses with extended stop arms and flashing red lights, often while children were crossing nearby streets or sidewalks. No injuries were reported, but the close calls prompted AISD officials to urge Waymo to suspend operations around schools during pick-up and drop-off times—a request the company declined.
“Holding the highest safety standards means recognizing when our behavior should be better,” stated Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña in a company release. “As a result, we have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to appropriately slowing and stopping in these scenarios.” Waymo identified a software glitch that caused vehicles to initially slow or stop but then proceed without fully yielding. The company rolled out an over-the-air update on November 17 to mitigate the issue, and the recall will formalize this fix across its fleet.
This isn’t Waymo’s first brush with recalls; the company issued similar software updates earlier in 2025 and twice in 2024, including one after a low-speed collision with a telephone pole in Phoenix. Despite these hiccups, Waymo maintains that its autonomous vehicles boast a superior safety record, experiencing 12 times fewer injury-causing crashes involving pedestrians compared to human drivers, according to independent analyses.
The NHTSA launched an investigation in October following a similar incident in Atlanta, where a Waymo vehicle crossed in front of a stopped school bus. Regulators have demanded detailed responses from Waymo by January 20, 2026, as part of an ongoing probe into the Texas events. Notably, five additional incidents occurred in November after Waymo’s initial software patch, underscoring the challenges of perfecting self-driving technology.
Waymo’s fleet, which operates without human safety drivers in cities like Austin, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, will not be grounded during the recall process. “We will continue analyzing our vehicles’ performance and making necessary fixes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement,” Peña added.
As autonomous vehicles gain traction in urban mobility—recently expanding to airport pickups in San Jose—these incidents highlight the delicate balance between innovation and public trust. Experts like cybersecurity analyst Ali Banafa emphasize that “the issue with autonomous cars is trust,” particularly when near-misses erode confidence in the technology. With NHTSA’s scrutiny intensifying, Waymo’s swift response could set a precedent for how the industry handles edge-case failures in real-world deployments.
For now, Austin parents and school officials are left hoping the update delivers lasting results, ensuring that robotaxis yield not just to code, but to the safety of the road’s most vulnerable users.
SOURCES:
Waymo to issue recall over self-driving vehicles driving past stopped school buses | Reuters
Waymo issues voluntary recall after recorded issues in Texas; vehicles will remain on roads – ABC7 Los Angeles
Waymo updating software after self-driving cars passed stopped school buses : NPR
Waymo issues voluntary recall after recorded issues in Texas; vehicles will remain on roads – ABC7 San Francisco
Waymo to issue voluntary software recall after close calls – ABC News
Waymo to issue software recall over how robotaxis behave around school buses | TechCrunch
Waymo to recall self-driving cars that passed stopped school buses | Fox Business
Waymo to issue voluntary software recall after close calls – Good Morning America
Waymo Issues Recall After Illegal Passing of School Buses
Waymo agrees to software recall to fix illegal school bus passing
