Waymo driverless taxi fails to stop for school bus in Atlanta
A Waymo driverless taxi failed to stop for a school bus with students disembarking in Atlanta on September 22, passing the bus's stop arm and crossing control area. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary investigation to assess how the vehicle's automated driving system handles stopped school buses.
What happened
On September 22 in Atlanta, Georgia, a Waymo driverless taxi operating on the company's 5th Generation Automated Driving System failed to stop for a stationary school bus with red lights flashing and a stop arm deployed.
The Waymo approached from a perpendicular side street, halted briefly, then turned right and passed in front of the bus and along its entire left side, passing the extended crossing control arm near disembarking students on the bus's right side and the extended stop arm on the bus's left side.
No safety operator was in the vehicle at the time of the incident.
Reported impact
The Waymo narrowly missed students who were disembarking from the school bus.
Index analysis
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation opened a Preliminary Evaluation to investigate the performance of Waymo's 5th Generation Automated Driving System around stopped school buses, how the system is designed to comply with school bus traffic safety laws, and its ability to follow those laws.
NHTSA noted that based on the incident and Waymo's operational accumulation of approximately two million miles per week, the likelihood of other prior similar incidents is high.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.