In a social media post Friday, the NTSB said it is specifically looking into the at least 24 instances of Waymo robotaxis failing to stop for school buses.
“The NTSB has opened a safety investigation to examine the interaction between Waymo vehicles and school buses stopped for loading and unloading students in Austin, Texas,” an NTSB spokesperson said in a statement Friday. “Investigators will travel to Austin to gather information on a series of incidents in which the automated vehicles failed to stop for loading or unloading students.”
Since the start of the school year in August, AISD has recorded at least 24 instances when a Waymo robotaxi illegally passed a stopped school bus as it was picking up or dropping off kids. Several of those incidents came after the autonomous vehicle company said it issued a voluntary recall and met with the school district to resolve the issue.
The school district has requested that Waymo halt operations during school pickup hours. Waymo is the driverless ride-hailing company owned by Google parent company Alphabet Inc.
Under Texas law, vehicles must come to a complete stop when a school bus is stopped with its stop-arm extended and its lights flashing. Vehicles may not proceed until the bus begins moving again, a requirement intended to protect students getting on or off the bus. In January, the district approved a contract with AlertBus, an AI-powered safety program that automatically issues $300 fines based on stop-arm camera footage.
The school district’s police department has issued more than 7,000 school bus traffic safety violations so far this school year, 24 of which were issued to Waymo vehicles, the district said.
The bulk of Waymo’s incidents have been captured on camera, which the school district has shared with the Austin American-Statesman. Several of the videos show Waymo vehicles slowing for the stopped school bus before proceeding. Some videos also show children entering or exiting the buses.
“Waymo’s mission is to be the world’s most trusted Driver, and we are committed to improving road safety. We safely navigate thousands of school bus encounters weekly across the United States, and the Waymo Driver is continuously improving,” Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, said in a statement Friday. “There have been no collisions in the events in question, and we are confident that our safety performance around school buses is superior to human drivers. We continue to engage productively with the Austin Independent School District and applaud their reported success in reducing human-driven violations around school buses from 10,000+ a year. We see this as an opportunity to provide the NTSB with transparent insights into our safety-first approach.”
The NTSB, unlike the NHTSA, is not a federal regulatory agency. This means the board cannot issue fines or penalties against Waymo. Instead, the safety board looks to identify the root causes of issues, and it can hold hearings or make nonbinding recommendations at the conclusion of a probe.
This is the first investigation into Waymo by the NTSB.
NTSB said a preliminary report will be available within 30 days with a final report expected in the next 12 to 24 months. That report will contain probable cause for the issue, contributing factors and recommendations.