The US government is examining whether Waymo’s recall of software involved with a series of school bus passing incidents last fall actually fixed the safety issue.
\n\nThe formal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) will determine whether the company’s supposed software fix succeeded in preventing its robotaxis from improperly passing stopped school buses with red lights on and their stop arms extended—indicators that the buses were picking up and dropping off students. It is illegal to pass these stopped school buses in all 50 states.
\n\nAccording to a filing, Waymo issued a fix for the software issue in mid-November, and an official voluntary recall a month later. But the government says that the majority of school bus issues occurred after that date.
\n\nEarlier this year, a report from the National Transportation Safety Board, the US’ independent safety agency, found that another school bus passing incident occurred in mid-January, several weeks after the supposed software fix. The NTSB is also investigating the school bus passing issue.
\n\nIn a written statement, Waymo spokesperson Dana Gallagher said the company has “made significant improvements to vehicle behavior around school buses,” and that it has not been cited for passing school buses…
Original source: https://www.wired.com/