Waymo robotaxis in Austin have repeatedly driven past stopped school buses with flashing lights and deployed stop arms, and the issue is the subject of a pending NHTSA investigation.
The Austin Independent School District recorded 24 instances of Waymo vehicles passing buses while lights and the stop arm were deployed, with district bus cameras showing children boarding or exiting, and a separately documented incident occurred in January.
Austin Police Assistant Chief Travis Pickford told KXAN that about 98% of human drivers do not repeat such violations, and he said Waymo's automated system "does not appear to be learning" through software updates. The Austin Independent School District said five events occurred after a Waymo software fix and asked Waymo to suspend operations during school bus hours, which Waymo declined.
Waymo has applied two software fixes but, according to local officials and the school district, significant improvement has not been seen, leaving Waymo facing local scrutiny and the NHTSA probe.
Read the full article at theautopian.com.
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