Waymo's robotaxi under probe for ignoring stopped school bus
A Waymo self-driving taxi in Atlanta is under federal investigation after it drove around a stopped school bus with flashing red lights in early October 2025.
This move raised real concerns about whether robotaxis can safely handle situations that are obvious to human drivers, especially when it comes to protecting kids.
Probe raises questions about robotaxis' ability to handle critical situations
Waymo says the bus partly blocked the robotaxi's driveway exit, making it tough for sensors to spot the stop signals.
Now, the NHTSA is checking if Waymo's tech can reliably recognize and react to stopped school busses, not just in Atlanta but across its fleet, which provides hundreds of thousands of fully autonomous paid trips every week.
Waymo has rolled out software updates to help, and points out their cars usually get into fewer accidents than humans.
Still, after a recall in 2024 for earlier software glitches, this probe is a big deal for the future of robotaxis and road safety.