Sign up for our weekly emails to stay up to date on the latest news!
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a Preliminary Evaluation (PE25-013) into Waymo’s 5th Generation Automated Driving System (ADS) following an incident in which a driverless Waymo vehicle maneuvered around a stopped school bus with its red lights flashing, stop arm deployed, and crossing control arm extended.
Key Highlights
- NHTSA launches Preliminary Evaluation PE25-013 into Waymo’s ADS.
- Incident involved a Waymo vehicle passing a stopped school bus with active signals.
- No safety operator was present in the vehicle at the time.
- Waymo’s ADS surpassed 100 million miles driven as of July 2025, adding around two million miles weekly.
- ODI will assess the ADS’s compliance with school bus traffic safety laws and potential similar events.
Investigation Details
According to NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI), the incident occurred when a Waymo autonomous vehicle (AV) approached a stopped school bus from a perpendicular side street. While the AV initially halted, it subsequently performed a complex maneuver — turning right to avoid the bus’s front, then left to pass in front of and alongside the bus, effectively driving past the extended stop and crossing control arms.
This sequence reportedly occurred as students were disembarking from the school bus, raising serious safety concerns regarding the vehicle’s object recognition, behavioral prediction, and decision-making systems in legally sensitive traffic scenarios.
At the time, the vehicle was fully driverless, utilizing Waymo’s 5th Generation ADS. NHTSA’s documentation emphasizes that given the system’s large operational footprint — accumulating roughly two million autonomous miles per week — the probability of additional similar incidents is high.
Focus of the Evaluation
NHTSA’s Preliminary Evaluation aims to:
- Assess the performance of Waymo’s ADS around stopped school buses.
- Examine how the system interprets and adheres to school bus-related traffic safety laws.
- Identify the scope and frequency of similar incidents within Waymo’s operating data.
The outcome of this evaluation will determine whether NHTSA escalates the case to an Engineering Analysis (EA) or mandates corrective action from Waymo to ensure regulatory compliance and public safety.
Sign up for our weekly emails to stay up to date on the latest news!
