Waymo will recall software after its self-driving cars passed stopped school buses

[Just_Vote_Dem]

The autonomous ride-hailing service Waymo plans to file a voluntarily software recall after several reports that its self-driving taxis illegally passed stopped school buses.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation in October in response to "a media report involving a Waymo AV [autonomous vehicle] that failed to remain stopped when approaching a school bus that was stopped with its red lights flashing, stop arm deployed, and crossing control arm deployed."

WXIA-TV in Atlanta aired video in September that showed a Waymo vehicle driving around a school bus.

The NHTSA website also includes a letter from the Austin Independent School District, saying the district has documented 19 instances of Waymo vehicles "illegally and dangerously" passing the district's school buses. The letter, signed by the district's senior counsel, says in one instance the Waymo vehicle drove past the stopped bus "only moments after a student crossed in front of the vehicle, and while the student was still in the road."

More at https://www.keranews.org/news/2025-12-08/waymo-will-recall-software-after-its-self-driving-cars-passed-stopped-school-buses

[Kid Berwyn]

1. So proactive of them.

Shouldn't be "testing" squat when it comes to the safety of children, no matter their age.

[hlthe2b]

2. Gee, ya think? Isn't there a threshold of dead children you want to meet FIRST?

$$$$ overrides all, it seems.

[Sneederbunk]

3. Will never understand why driverless cars are allowed on highway.

[Dave Bowman]

5. They're still way too primitive.

[Dave Bowman]

4. "Debugging our junk one dead kid at a time" risks becoming their slogan. 🙁

[EdmondDantes_]

6. If the numbers in the article I found are correct

Human drivers do the same far more frequently.

https://www.schoolbusfleet.com/10244361/annual-nasdpts-survey-highlights-danger-of-passing-school-buses

There were 114,239 drivers who reported 67,258 vehicles illegally passed their stopped school buses on a single day,” NASDPTS Executive Director Ronna Weber announced at the convention.

When adjusted to represent 100% of school bus drivers nationwide, and based on data NASDPTS has tracked since 2022, the association estimates there would have been just over 218,000 illegal passings in a single day.

When you project that out of 180 days to represent the school year, that’s 39.3 million violations per year.

And that was down from the previous year. Not that Waymo shouldn't do better, but taking all the data in, human drivers are significantly worse than the non-Tesla autonomous cars. It's easy to point at relatively infrequent errors (compared to human drivers). In my parents' town a bus driver ran over a kid, should I assume that makes all bus drivers unsafe, or do I need more data points?

[Blues Heron]

7. Way less is more like it