Austin ISD says the autonomous vehicle company has been cited 20 times since the beginning of the school year for its vehicles passing stopped school buses.
AUSTIN, Texas — Austin ISD says autonomous car company Waymo has now been cited a 20th time since the 2025-26 school year started for incidents involving its vehicles passing stopped school buses.
Earlier this week, KVUE reported that several cars in the company’s fleet were shown on camera illegally passing Austin ISD school buses. In each scenario, the buses were stopped with their red lights flashing and had their stop arms extended, meaning no driver is allowed to pass them.
In Texas, all cars must stop until the lights stop flashing and the arm is retracted, even if the car is on the other side of the road, if there is not a physical lane divider.
Austin ISD provided KVUE with a statement Thursday night, confirming that Waymo had been cited a 20th time for violations and stating the company disagreed with the district’s risk assessment:
“As of Dec. 1, 2025, Waymo received its 20th citation since the beginning of the school year. This is after the company said it had fixed the issue through software updates that were implemented on Nov. 17. The district did meet with Waymo officials to share its concerns on Dec. 4. When presented with this information, the District again asked Waymo to cease operations when our students are loading and unloading from our school buses. The company disagreed with our risk assessment and refused to cease operations. Austin ISD and the Austin ISD Police Department will continue to monitor for any additional school bus violations.”
According to Austin ISD police, officers so far this year have issued about 6,777 violations for passing a school bus that had its red lights flashing and stop arm extended.