Austin's school district has reported over a dozen incidents when Waymo robotaxis don't follow state law when approaching school buses.
The Austin Independent School District in Texas worked with Waymo for months on training its robotaxis to safely and legally stop for school buses — to little effect, according to an article by Aarian Marshall in Wired.
"An official with the Austin Independent School District (AISD) alleged that the vehicles had, in at least 19 instances, “illegally and dangerously” passed the district’s school buses while their red lights were flashing and their stop arms were extended rather than coming to complete stops, as the law requires." The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered a federal recall in December related to the incidents, but the district continued to report incidents into the following months.
"Self-driving software has long struggled with recognizing flashing emergency lights and road safety devices with long, thin arms, including gates and stop-arms, says Missy Cummings, who researches autonomous vehicles at George Mason University and served as a safety adviser to the NHTSA during the Biden administration."
Read the full story: A School District Tried to Help Train Waymos to Stop for School Buses. It Didn’t Work
Waymo Robotaxis Under Investigation for Dangerous Driving Near School Buses
This isn’t the first federal investigation for the Alphabet-owned company, which was forced to issue two recalls earlier this year due to safety concerns over the cars’ “unexpected behavior.”
Feds say robotaxis interfering with first responders is a 'functional insufficiency,' demand solutions by August
The NHTSA issued a letter to autonomous carmakers, noting that 'Every second matters when law enforcement officers, firefighters, or paramedics are answering a call.'
Waymo's troubles with emergency vehicles are getting worse
In one case, first responders waited 53 minutes to reach a Waymo support representative during an emergency.
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