Waymo told federal safety regulators earlier this month it would investigate incidents of its vehicles driving around school buses.
From driving into an active police felony stop to a three-way standoff to driving around school buses, Waymo and its autonomous vehicles have been in the limelight lately. Now, the company is recalling 3,067 vehicles to address the software issue that causes its cars to drive around stopped school buses, while those buses are stopped with red lights flashing and their stop-arms extended.
According to what Waymo told the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), its fifth-generation software may cause the vehicle to drive around a stopped school bus. Not only does that create an obvious risk of a crash with a pedestrian, but it also violates laws in all 50 states prohibiting drivers from passing school buses at a stop.
While the company did not issue a comment in response to the NHTSA publishing this information, it did note all affected vehicles were already repaired. Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc., rolled out an automated driving system (ADS) update to cars on November 17.
The NHTSA launched an investigation into Waymo-related incidents in October, after reports of vehicles passing stopped school buses in Atlanta and Georgia. At present, the company operates driverless rides in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin and Atlanta. The most recent software update may have sorted this issue, though even Waymo itself notes the need for further updates as it continues to expand. Mauricio Peña, the company’s chief safety officer, told CBS News last Friday: “We will continue analyzing our vehicles’ performance and making necessary fixes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement.”
Waymo plans to expand to Philadelphia in the near future, as well as nearly a dozen other cities in due time.’
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