TEXAS — The self-driving taxi known as Waymo is taking a break in Austin.

Since the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, Austin Independent School District (AISD) has recorded at least 20 stop-arm violations committed by the autonomous vehicles.

Cameras installed on school buses through the district’s Stop-Arm Camera Program show Waymo vehicles passing buses when they brake and have their stop arm extended. In some instances, the self-driving vehicles come close to hitting students getting off the bus.

“There’s not a similar pattern,” said Travis Pickford, assistant chief of the Austin ISD Police Department. “There’s not consistency there, other than the Waymo’s are consistently passing our buses.”

Pickford said despite Waymo operating in Austin for years, the district only found out about the stop-arm violations this year when they switched to a new vendor for the Stop-Arm Camera Program.

AISD and Waymo have gone back and forth on this issue, with AISD notifying the company of the violations and the district’s demands for a software update. Waymo replied in November, saying its vehicles have been updated. 

Nonetheless, there were more violations cited by AISD, totaling at least 20 violations as of Nov. 20. And the issue, according to Pickford, is not exclusive to AISD.

“Eanes, Pflugerville, Leander, Round Rock, Del Valle, just to name those five,” he said. “I can only assume that if we’re seeing violations on our buses, it’s entirely possible that violations are occurring in those districts as well.”

“It’s our position and our belief that they need to stop operating while our school buses are out on the roadway,” Pickford said.

Because of the violations, Waymo voluntarily recalled more than 3,000 vehicles in its fleet.

Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief safety officer, said:

“While we are incredibly proud of our strong safety record showing Waymo experiences twelve times fewer injury crashes involving pedestrians than human drivers, holding the highest safety standards means recognizing when our behavior should be better.

“As a result, we have made the decision to file a voluntary software recall with NHTSA related to appropriately slowing and stopping in these scenarios. We will continue analyzing our vehicles’ performance and making necessary fixes as part of our commitment to continuous improvement.”

The recall report from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also cites the stop arm violations are cause for the recall, stating:

“Prior to the affected Waymo ADS [automated driving system] receiving the remedy described in this report, in certain circumstances, Waymo vehicles that were stopped or stopping for a school bus with its red lights flashing and/or the stop arm extended would proceed again before the school bus had deactivated its flashing lights and/or retracted its stop arm.”

As Waymo plans to expand operations into San Antonio and Dallas, Pickford urged the company to ensure all vehicles are following the law before putting more students in the state in harm’s way.

“[People need to] be a voice and be a part of whatever safety working group is coming together to discuss Waymo or any autonomous vehicle operation in their area,” Pickford said.