{"id":126755,"date":"2026-01-17T04:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T04:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/126755\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T04:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T04:48:10","slug":"austin-isd-urges-waymo-to-halt-operations-amid-increased-school-bus-traffic-violations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/126755\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin ISD urges Waymo to halt operations amid increased school bus traffic violations"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAustin ISD <\/a>has again asked self-driving car company Waymo<\/a> to cease its operations during morning and afternoon school bus hours.<\/p>\n

The district has reported 24 school bus traffic violations by Waymo vehicles this school year. Four of these incidents occurred after Waymo issued a voluntary software recall<\/a> in early December amid a federal investigation into the company by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What you need to know<\/p>\n

During the week of Dec. 8, Waymo issued a voluntary software recall for its autonomous vehicles after AISD recorded 20 incidents of Waymo cars illegally passing district buses, averaging 1.5 violations a week, according to a letter from AISD<\/a> to Waymo.<\/p>\n

Texas state law mandates that drivers stop on both sides of the road for a school bus with a stop sign or flashing red lights, unless the bus is stopped on the opposite side of a divided highway, according to the Texas Department of Transportation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At that time, AISD asked Waymo to immediately cease operating its self-driving vehicles between the hours of 5:20 a.m.-9:30 a.m. and 3-7 p.m.\u2014a request that Waymo did not comply with, an AISD spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

As of Jan. 14, the district had recorded 24 school bus traffic violations by Waymo vehicles this school year, an AISD spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Since Waymo announced its December software recall, the district recorded violations from Waymo vehicles Dec. 11, 12 and 19 as well as Jan. 12, according to AISD information. Footage of these incidents was captured through the district\u2019s school bus stop arms and provided to Community Impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin ISD again asks that Waymo cease operations in the mornings and afternoons during school days when our students are using our school buses,\u201d an AISD spokesperson said in a statement to Community Impact on Jan. 14. \u201cAustin ISD continues to explore any and all legal recourse available.\u201d<\/p>\n

The other side<\/p>\n

“Our vehicles have 12 times fewer crashes involving injuries to pedestrians compared to human benchmarks, and we’re invested in demonstrating exceptional driving performance around school bus interactions that exceeds human-driven vehicles,\u201d a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement to Community Impact on Jan. 16. \u201cWe have met with Austin ISD, including on a collaborative data collection of various light patterns and conditions and are reviewing these learnings. We have seen material improvement in our performance since our software update.”<\/p>\n

The background<\/p>\n

The NHTSA opened a preliminary investigation<\/a> into Waymo\u2019s 5th Generation Automated Driving System on Oct. 17. The investigation was prompted by a media report<\/a> of a Waymo vehicle initially slowing and then proceeding to drive past a stopped school bus in Atlanta.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 3, the NHTSA sent a letter <\/a>to Waymo asking the company to report by Jan. 20 its approach to safety around stopped school buses; information for all Waymo vehicles operating in the United States; and all complaints, crashes and lawsuits received over the last three years.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The Office of Defects Investigation] is concerned that ADS-equipped vehicles exhibiting such unexpected driving behaviors or not complying with traffic safety laws concerning school buses may increase the risk of crash, injury, and property damage,\u201d the letter states. \u201cThis incident occurred in the proximity of other road users, including pedestrians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also of note<\/p>\n

In late November, Waymo announced plans <\/a>to launch its autonomous vehicles in Dallas, Houston and San Antonio over the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

The company operates more than 2,500 vehicles across Austin, Atlanta, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix, and plans to fully launch its ride services in several new cities<\/a> across the United States.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Austin ISD has again asked self-driving car company Waymo to cease its operations during morning and afternoon school…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,1685,6187,54716,54714,54715,133,54720,1223,10021,4796,54719,54722,10019,11780,10020,40712,54721,54717,54718,40706,40711],"class_list":{"0":"post-126755","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-isd","11":"tag-austin-isd-news","12":"tag-austin-isd-school-buses","13":"tag-austin-isd-waymo-news","14":"tag-austin-isd-waymo-school-buses","15":"tag-austin-news","16":"tag-austin-schools","17":"tag-austin-texas","18":"tag-autonomous-vehicles","19":"tag-legal-action","20":"tag-school-bus-safety","21":"tag-school-transportation","22":"tag-self-driving-cars","23":"tag-student-safety","24":"tag-waymo","25":"tag-waymo-investigation","26":"tag-waymo-operations","27":"tag-waymo-school-buses","28":"tag-waymo-school-buses-news","29":"tag-waymo-software-recall","30":"tag-waymo-traffic-violations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}