Waymo's self-driving vehicles pass Austin ISD school buses at least 20 times, district says
Waymo cars pass AISD buses 20 times, district says
Austin ISD has videos showing Waymo, a self-driving vehicle, illegally passing its school buses 20 times since the first week of classes, August 2025, to now.
AUSTIN, Texas - Austin ISD has videos showing Waymo, a self-driving vehicle, illegally passing its school buses 20 times since the first week of classes, August 2025, to now.
VIDEO: Austin ISD captures multiple school bus violations involving Waymo vehicles
Austin Independent School District releases video of multiple school bus violations involving Waymo vehicles.
The backstory:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) launched a preliminary evaluation to investigate autonomous vehicles following an incident in Atlanta, Georgia, in which a driverless Waymo was seen passing a school bus while its flashing lights were on and its stop arm was out. The incident in Georgia is what prompted AISD to review its school bus footage.
"We did not get any sort of notification or information about Waymo's passing our buses from our drivers," said Travis Pickford, the Assistant Chief of Police for Austin ISD. "However, upon reviewing the video from our stop-arms program, that's when we discovered the nature of the violations, not just that there were violations, but the egregious nature of the violations."
In the recording that AISD shared with FOX 7, there are several documented instances of Waymo cars continuing to accelerate past the school buses while students are getting on and off.
VIDEO: Waymo cited for school bus violations
Austin Independent School District has released video of 19 school bus violations involving Waymo vehicles.
"In the state of Texas, anytime a school bus is stopped and loading or unloading students with its red lights flashing and stop signs extended, vehicles have to stop," said Pickford.
The district requested that Waymo pause its services while the company performed software updates to fix the problem.
"The district has asked Waymo to cease operations during a four-hour block in the morning and a four-hour block in the evening when our buses are most active, picking up students and dropping them off at the end of the day," said Pickford.
"Have they responded to that request?" FOX 7's Katie Pratt asked.
"They disagreed with our risk assessment and declined that request," answered Pickford.
What's next:
After Waymo reportedly implemented changes to its systems, AISD stated that it has seen several more instances since those upgrades were put into place.
A Waymo spokesperson sent FOX 7 this statement: "Improving road safety is our top priority at Waymo, and we're deeply invested in safe interaction with school buses. We swiftly implemented software updates to address this and will continue to rapidly improve."
NHTSA submitted a 12-page document on December 3 and set a January 20, 2026, deadline for Waymo to respond.
The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin's Katie Pratt