The headline most likely refers to NHTSA Recall 25E084, filed Dec. 10, 2025. Waymo said a software change could lead some of its fifth-generation self-driving vehicles to move before a stopped school bus had turned off its flashing red lights or retracted its stop arm. The filing listed 3,067 potentially involved vehicles; Waymo reported that all had received a software update before it filed the recall.
What did the Waymo school-bus recall cover?
In its Part 573 report to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Waymo described a risk involving its fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS). In certain circumstances, a vehicle stopped or stopping for a school bus could proceed before the bus’s flashing red lights were off and/or its stop arm was retracted.
The affected software population began with a driverless release on Aug. 20, 2025, and preceded a Nov. 5 release. Waymo reported 3,067 potentially involved vehicles. That is the filing’s affected-population count—not a count of crashes, injuries, privately owned cars, or Waymo’s entire fleet.
How the software behavior developed
Waymo said the Aug. 20 software release changed how the ADS predicted other road users’ intentions. In the described circumstances, that change could lead the system to conclude that it was impeding a priority vehicle and move forward when it should have stayed stopped for the school bus.
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The filing’s chronology says the first known event occurred Sept. 22, 2025: a vehicle slowed to 5 mph for a school bus, then proceeded before the stop arm was retracted. Waymo engineers identified the behavior in October after analyzing an increased rate of school-bus passing events. Its Field Safety Committee chose a software hotfix on Oct. 30, applied incrementally from Nov. 5 through Nov. 17. The Safety Board decided to conduct a recall on Dec. 2, and Waymo submitted the report on Dec. 10.
Were there crashes or injuries?
Waymo’s filing says no collisions occurred as a result of this behavior. It reports 12 related citations, issued from Sept. 25 through Nov. 14, 2025. The filing describes passing a stopped school bus as carrying a greater collision risk than remaining stationary, while also saying the ADS’s full sensor suite for detecting and avoiding vulnerable road users and collisions remained functional. Those are statements about the reported behavior in this filing, not a general safety finding about Waymo vehicles.
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How was the recall fixed?
The remedy was a software update. Waymo said it updated every potentially affected vehicle before submitting the recall report. The changes were intended to prevent the ADS from prioritizing movement to avoid impeding another vehicle over staying stopped for a school bus with flashing red lights or an extended stop arm.
Because Waymo owned all potentially affected vehicles and said the remedy had already been applied, the filing said dealer or owner notifications were not needed. This was a fleet software recall, not a repair notice for private owners of Waymo cars.
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How this recall differs from other Waymo recalls
Waymo has reported other recalls involving different conditions and software populations. They should not be combined with the school-bus case or its 3,067-vehicle count.
| Recall | Reported issue and population | Remedy status in the cited filing |
|---|---|---|
| 25E084, filed Dec. 10, 2025 | Fifth-generation ADS software and school-bus stopping behavior; 3,067 potentially involved vehicles. | Waymo said all affected vehicles had received the software update before filing. |
| 25E-034, filed May 12, 2025 | Fifth-generation ADS software before the Nov. 7, 2024 release; potential collisions with chains, gates, and similar roadway barriers; 1,212 potentially involved vehicles. | The report says affected vehicles had received an update between Nov. 7 and Dec. 26, 2024, and that no injuries were associated with the reported events. |
| 26E035, filed June 17, 2026 | Fifth-generation ADS systems capable of driverless freeway operation; the report describes a risk that a vehicle could enter and travel at speed in a freeway construction zone under certain circumstances; 3,871 potentially involved systems. | The filing describes software improvements and operational protocols, but says Waymo would update the filing once the remedy was deployed. It does not establish completed fleet-wide remediation. |
Waymo also described a separate recall in a February 2024 company statement. It concerned two Phoenix contacts on Dec. 11, 2023, with a backwards-facing pickup truck being towed across lanes. Waymo said there were no injuries, damage was minor, and affected vehicles were updated between Dec. 20, 2023, and Jan. 12, 2024. That was a different event and software remedy from the school-bus recall.
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- Two-part protective case made from a premium scratch-resistant polycarbonate shell and shock absorbent TPU liner protects against drops
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