NHTSA opens recall query into Waymo robotaxis after school-bus-passing incidents continued following a softwar

Here’s the short version: Waymo pushed a software fix to stop its robotaxis from blowing past stopped school buses, and the cars apparently kept doing it anyway. Now federal regulators want to know whether that fix actually fixed anything.

If you share the road with these vehicles — or you’ve got kids who ride a bus in a city where Waymo operates — this isn’t a press-release problem. It’s about whether a self-driving car will stop when a school bus throws out its stop sign and children step into the street.

What the filing actually says

NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a recall query on a Friday in mid-December 2025. The target is Waymo’s 5th-generation automated driving system (ADS), the software and sensor suite that runs the company’s driverless fleet. The query covers 3,067 vehicles.

The backstory matters here. Waymo completed a software update on November 17, 2025. Then on December 10, 2025, the company filed recall 25E084 — a recall tied to its vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses. The remedy for that recall was the software update.

Here’s the problem the agency flagged: most of the reported incidents of Waymo cars passing stopped school buses happened after that November 17 update went live. In other words, the fix was already on the cars when the vehicles kept doing the thing the fix was supposed to prevent.

That’s why this is a recall query and not just a routine recall. NHTSA isn’t opening a brand-new investigation from scratch. It’s going back to an existing recall remedy and asking a blunt question: did it work. A recall query is the tool regulators use when they suspect a repair didn’t actually solve the defect.

Why this one is serious

Strip away the autonomy-tech talk and what you’ve got is a vehicle that doesn’t reliably stop for a school bus with its stop sign deployed. On a human-driven car, that’s a moving violation and a serious one, because a deployed stop sign on a bus means kids are getting on or off and may be crossing the road.

The danger is exactly what you’d think. A child steps out from in front of or behind a stopped bus, and a vehicle that doesn’t stop doesn’t see the gap closing until it’s too late. NHTSA’s filing puts it plainly: autonomous vehicles failing to stop for school buses with deployed stop signs endanger children exiting buses.

What makes the federal query pointed is the timeline. A recall is supposed to end a defect. When the reported incidents cluster after the remedy was already installed, the remedy itself is in question. The agency is now assessing whether that software update was adequate. Under this query, no new remedy has been announced. The original fix is the one on trial.

What this means if you own one

Odds are you don’t personally own one of these — Waymo runs them as a driverless ride service, not something sitting in your driveway. So the practical steps here are a little different from a typical consumer recall. But if you ride in these vehicles, drive near them, or have kids who use them or ride school buses in a Waymo city, here’s how to handle it.

1. Treat every school bus encounter as your responsibility, not the car’s. If you’re a pedestrian, a parent, or another driver near a stopped bus, don’t assume a Waymo will stop. The whole point of this federal query is that the agency isn’t yet convinced the vehicles reliably do. Watch the car, not the brand.

2. Report what you see. If you witness a Waymo vehicle passing a stopped school bus with its stop sign out, that’s exactly the kind of real-world incident NHTSA is collecting. You can file a complaint with NHTSA. Note the date, time, location, and anything identifying about the vehicle. Those reports are what move an investigation forward.

3. Know this is open, not resolved. Recall 25E084 exists and the software update was completed. But the recall query means the government is still deciding whether that remedy counts as done. Don’t read “there was a recall and a fix” as “problem solved.” The agency is explicitly questioning that.

4. If you’re a rider, pay attention around schools and bus routes. You’re a passenger, not a driver, so you can’t take the wheel. But knowing the car’s behavior around stopped buses is under federal scrutiny is worth keeping in the back of your mind during drop-off and pickup hours.

My honest take

I’ll give Waymo this much: the company filed the recall itself in December, which is how the process is supposed to work. The trouble is the math. You don’t want to see a defect’s reported incidents pile up after the fix ships. That’s the pattern that makes a regulator pick up the phone, and it’s the reason this is a query into the remedy rather than a pat on the back.

For now, nothing is settled. NHTSA is assessing whether the software update was enough, and there’s no announced second remedy. If the agency decides the fix fell short, expect more pressure on Waymo to come back with something that actually keeps these cars stopped when a bus is unloading kids.

Until then, the safe assumption is the simple one: don’t trust any vehicle — human-driven or driverless — to stop for a school bus. Stop for the bus yourself, and keep your eyes on the kids. The technology is still being graded on whether it can be counted on to do the same.