Waymo faces increased scrutiny as the NTSB examines the school bus accident

Waymo, the self-driving ride-hailing company, has been mired in a growing number of safety incidents. While the company has recently focused on launching Four new cities And moving on to the new next generation Driving systemIt faces the National Transportation Safety Board investigation Incidents in which vehicles overtook illegally parked school buses.

Waymo is also facing high-profile criticism after a Viral video It showed one of its robotaxis blocking the way of an ambulance heading to the scene Mass shooting In Austin, Texas. The company is responding to city leaders in San Francisco About an incident last year where Waymo vehicles became unresponsive and stalled during a power outage in December. Waymo said In a blog post They are updating the robotaxi software to better handle power outages and make more decisive driving decisions during such incidents.

A Waymo representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The NTSB investigation is focusing on incidents in Austin where self-driving taxis illegally passed parked school buses. In its report, the NTSB cites an event captured on video on January 12 that appears to have occurred with the consent of a human agent.

Although no accident occurred, “the Austin ISD Police Department reported several incidents of Waymo ADS-equipped vehicles passing school buses that had been stopped to load or unload student passengers,” the report says. ADS stands for Automated Driving System.

According to reports, these types of incidents have occurred More than 24 times In Austin. The city’s largest school district, Austin ISD, has asked Waymo to stop operations near school zones when buses are active. As reported by Spectrum News Agency.

Viral traffic video

After the March 1 mass shooting at an Austin nightclub that left four people dead and at least 13 others dead, Waymo… The car is stuck While he was trying to make a U-turn, which led to the road being closed in front of the ambulance that was on its way to the scene.

Video of the incident was captured by Austin realtor Matthew Turnage, and Tik Tok post He drew attention to the limitations of self-driving technology. The company has not yet addressed the incident.