The Albany Gazette - US Government Questions Effectiveness of Waymo’s School Bus Software Fix

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is conducting a formal investigation to determine whether Waymo’s recent software recall successfully resolved safety issues involving its autonomous vehicles improperly passing stopped school buses. The inquiry focuses on whether the company’s technical fix prevented its robotaxis from ignoring critical signals that indicate students are being loaded or unloaded.

Under federal and state law, it is illegal to pass a school bus with its red lights flashing and stop arm extended in all 50 states. According to regulatory filings, Waymo issued a software update addressing the issue in mid-November last year, followed by a formal voluntary recall one month later. However, government data indicates that the majority of school bus-related incidents occurred after these corrective measures were implemented.

Evidence supporting the regulator’s concerns includes a report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the US independent safety agency, which identified another school bus passing incident in mid-January. This event took place several weeks after Waymo stated it had deployed the software fix. The NTSB is concurrently investigating the same category of safety failures.

Waymo has defended its response to the incidents. In a written statement, company spokesperson Dana Gallagher asserted that the firm has "made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses." Gallagher noted that Waymo has not been cited for passing school buses since March of the previous year, which was months after the mid-December software recall and voluntary recall were issued. She added that the company looks "forward to continuing our engagement on recall processes for AV software that continues to learn and improve."

The regulatory scrutiny follows efforts by Waymo to gather data to train its vehicles. Late last year, the Austin school district assisted in a half-day data collection event, coordinating with the self-driving vehicle developer to bring school buses and stop-arm signals to an empty parking lot. This initiative was designed to help the company collect information to avoid the illegal street maneuver. Despite this collaboration occurring after the software fix and recall were issued, incidents of improper passing continued.

Historical precedent suggests that such recall queries can result in significant financial consequences for automakers and software developers. Past investigations have led to civil penalties costing tens of millions of dollars.

(B.Smith--TAG)