The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States announced on Monday that it has launched a recall investigation concerning 2,895 self-driving vehicles operated by Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet. This investigation focuses on evaluating whether prior software updates implemented by Waymo effectively prevent these vehicles from unlawfully bypassing school buses.
According to reports, the NHTSA’s review seeks to determine if the software updates deployed during a recall in December 2025 adequately addressed identified deficiencies. These deficiencies could potentially result in Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, while initially reducing speed or stopping, subsequently continuing to drive past a school bus that is displaying flashing red lights or has an outstretched stop sign.
The NHTSA indicated that the majority of these incidents occurred after November 2025. At that time, Waymo had stated that it had completed the software corrections for all affected vehicles. The current review will assess whether Waymo’s previously implemented software fixes sufficiently resolved the issues and identify the reasons behind the continued occurrence of related incidents after the updates.
Documents submitted to the NHTSA by Waymo reveal that the earliest known incident linked to this issue took place on September 22, 2025. In this case, a Waymo self-driving vehicle reduced its speed to 5 miles per hour (approximately 8 kilometers) upon encountering a school bus but proceeded to drive past the bus before the stop sign arm had been retracted.
In October 2025, Waymo engineers noted a rising number of incidents where self-driving vehicles passed school buses with the stop sign arm still extended. Upon investigation, they identified the software issue and began developing a corrective action plan. By October 30, the company decided to address the matter via an emergency software patch and executed a staggered update for all affected vehicles between November 5 and November 17.
Subsequently, on December 2, 2025, Waymo resolved to recall the vehicles and submitted the recall report to the NHTSA on December 10. The company indicated that there were 12 known citations related to this problem, occurring between September 25 and November 14, 2025, while confirming that no collisions took place during this period.
The current recall investigation encompasses 2,895 vehicles operated by Waymo. The voluntary software recall initiated by Waymo in December 2025 covers over 3,000 vehicles equipped with the company’s fifth-generation autonomous driving system.
In addition to concerns surrounding school bus safety, the NHTSA had commenced another preliminary investigation into Waymo earlier this year. According to official documents, on January 23, 2026, a vehicle outfitted with Waymo’s fifth-generation self-driving technology struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California.
The incident occurred during normal school hours, with other children, traffic volunteers, and numerous illegally double-parked cars nearby. The child ran across the road from behind a double-parked SUV and was struck by the Waymo vehicle, sustaining minor injuries. At the time of the incident, no safety operator was present in the vehicle.
The NHTSA stated that its investigation will review whether the vehicle took appropriate precautions when operating in school zones where children and other vulnerable road users are present. This includes determining adherence to posted speed limits and examining how Waymo managed the situation following the incident.