Waymo cars are still breaking the law in Austin, despite the self-driving vehicle company saying its software has been updated, new videos show.
Local outlet KXAN reported early last December that Waymo cars were filmed illegally passing Austin Independent School District buses as students crossed the street. The outlet’s investigation found Austin school bus cameras caught Waymo cars passing its buses while their stop arms and red lights were activated 19 times this school year.
Waymo quickly issued a voluntary software recall for 3,000 of its vehicles due to an issue that caused the autonomous cars to drive past stopped school buses, which was fixed, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on December 11, 2025.
But new reporting from KXAN found that Waymo cars were still illegally passing school buses in Austin.
The outlet now says Austin school bus cameras recorded at least 22 instances this school year where Wyamo cars passed while the bus’s stop arm was deployed. In seven of these incidents, children were visible in the video.
The school district confirmed to The Independent Wednesday that there have been a total of 24 alleged violations by Waymo cars, with the most recent taking place on Monday.
“Austin ISD again asks that Waymo cease operations in the mornings and afternoons during school days when our students are using our school buses. Austin ISD continues to explore any and all legal recourse available,” a spokesperson for the district said.
A Waymo spokesperson defended the safety of the company’s driverless cars in a statement to The Independent.
"Our vehicles have 12x 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,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson continued: “We 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.”
The Independent has reached out to the Austin Independent School District for comment.
