The National Transportation Safety Board has opened investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis has been spotted illegally passing school bus stops several times in at least two states.
The NTSB specifically focused on more than 20 incidents that occurred in Austin, Texas, he said in a post on X on Friday.
“Investigators will travel to Austin to gather information on a series of incidents in which automated vehicles failed to stop for loading or unloading students,” NTSB said in a statement to TechCrunch. An initial report is expected within 30 days, and the safety board will issue a more detailed final report within 12 to 24 months.
This is the first time Waymo has been investigated by the NTSB, but this is the second investigation opened into Waymo over its school bus problems. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation open the same probe in October.
Waymo also released remember the software in December to address the issue. But the previous software update was not enough to stamp out, and in Austin, Texas – where many of the incidents have been captured on camera – the school district has asked the company to suspend operations during pickup and drop-off times.
The new investigation comes as Waymo is in the midst of a rapid expansion in the United States. Just this week, the company began offering robotaxi services in Miami, adding operations in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area.
“We safely navigate thousands of school bus encounters every week throughout the United States, and Waymo Driver continues to improve. There were no collisions in the event, and we believe that the safety performance of school buses is superior to that of human drivers,” said Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, in a statement to TechCrunch. “We see this as an opportunity to provide the NTSB with transparent insight into our safety-first approach.”
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The NTSB differs from the NHTSA in that it is not a federal regulatory agency. Cannot issue fines or fines. However, safety boards usually conduct in-depth investigations to identify the root causes of problems in the world of transportation. When the investigation is complete, the board often holds hearings and makes unrelated recommendations.
The first recorded incident where a Waymo vehicle passed a stopped school bus was last September in Atlanta, Georgia. Waymo left the road and crossed perpendicularly in front of the school bus from the right side of the bus. The Robotaxi then turned left and continued on its way as the children got off the bus.
Waymo said at the time that the vehicle could not see a stop sign or flashing lights, and since said that there is a certain scenario with a software update.
But while Waymo was dealing with a particular scenario it encountered in Atlanta, some of the company’s vehicles were caught passing a school bus that stopped in Austin, Texas. Local news outlet KXAN published video obtained from a camera mounted on a school bus showing Waymo vehicles making illegal maneuvers in many times.
“We continue to participate productively with the Austin Independent School District and applaud the reported success in reducing human-driven violations around school buses of 10,000+ years,” Peña said.