Key Points
- U.S. regulators are investigating Waymo’s self-driving cars after a school bus incident.
- A Waymo robotaxi reportedly failed to stop for a school bus with its red lights flashing.
- The probe covers about 2,000 of the company’s vehicles.
- Waymo says it has already made software improvements to address the issue.
U.S. auto safety regulators have opened a new investigation into about 2,000 of Waymo’s self-driving vehicles. The probe was launched after a report surfaced of one of the company’s robotaxis failing to stop for a school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is looking into the incident, which was caught on video in Georgia. The footage shows the Waymo vehicle initially stopping, but then maneuvering around the bus as students were getting off.
This is a serious safety concern and the latest in a series of regulatory headaches for the self-driving industry. Waymo, which Google’s parent company, Alphabet, owns, is a leader in the field, with its fleet of over 1,500 robotaxis having driven over 100 million miles on public roads. But the sheer number of miles driven means “the likelihood of other prior similar incidents is high,” the agency said.
Waymo said it has already made improvements to its software related to stopping for school buses and will be rolling out more updates soon. The company claimed that in the Georgia incident, the vehicle “approached the school bus from an angle where the flashing lights and stop sign were not visible.”
This is not the first time Waymo has been under the microscope. NHTSA just recently closed a 14-month investigation into a series of other minor collisions and “unexpected behavior” from the company’s robotaxis.
