On Nov. 6, 2026, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened Recall Query RQ26006 to assess whether recall 25E084 adequately addressed Waymo’s fifth-generation automated driving system (ADS) passing stopped school buses. NHTSA says most incidents identified during its earlier evaluation occurred after the remedy date, Nov. 17, 2025, according to the agency’s query notice.
The query lists 2,895 vehicles. Recall 25E084 addressed software that could allow a vehicle to pass a stopped bus with its red lights flashing and/or stop arm extended.
RQ26006 evaluates a software remedy; the Austin account describes one specific vehicle sequence.
How the query followed the remedy
The NTSB says Waymo filed recall 25E084 on Dec. 10, 2025, covering 3,067 fifth-generation ADS vehicles. That figure refers to the earlier recall; 2,895 is the population listed in the later NHTSA query. The NTSB’s preliminary investigation page describes the recall and its separate Austin cases.
| Date | Milestone |
| Oct. 17, 2025 | NHTSA ODI opened preliminary evaluation PE25013 into reports of Waymo vehicles passing stopped school buses. |
| Nov. 17, 2025 | The remedy completion date listed in Waymo’s recall report. |
| Dec. 10, 2025 | Waymo filed recall 25E084. |
| Jan. 12, 2026 | A Waymo vehicle passed a stopped school bus in Austin after remote assistance answered a question about its signals. |
| Nov. 6, 2026 | NHTSA ODI opened Recall Query RQ26006. |
What happened in the Austin case
In its preliminary account of the Jan. 12 event, the NTSB says an unoccupied 2024 Jaguar I-Pace using Waymo’s fifth-generation ADS approached a stopped 2025 Thomas Built school bus. The bus had flashing red lights and two extended stop arms. The Waymo vehicle initially stopped.
The vehicle then asked remote assistance whether the bus had active signals. A remotely located agent answered “No,” and the Waymo vehicle resumed travel and passed the bus while its stop arms remained extended. Remote assistance is information or advice from a person in another location. Five passenger vehicles also passed the bus, bringing the total to six. The NTSB says no crash occurred in this incident.
The NTSB also identifies a separate Austin ISD incident on Jan. 14 involving a bus on a special-needs route. Its investigation of the Jan. 12 event and similar Austin incidents remains ongoing.
Waymo’s response
Waymo spokesperson Dana Gallagher told The Verge that the company had made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses and would respond to NHTSA’s query, according to The Verge’s report.
