Waymo has been investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board for inappropriate behavior by school buses

The National Transportation Safety Board said he opened it Waymo’s investigation after its robotaxis was spotted driving illegally has stopped school buses multiple times in at least two states.

The NTSB is focusing on more than 20 incidents that occurred in Austin, Texas, it said in a press release on Friday.

“Investigators have traveled to Austin to gather information about the incident where autonomous vehicles failed to stop or drop off students,” the NTSB said in a statement to TechCrunch. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days, and the defense agency will publish a final report in 12 to 24 months.

This is the first time Waymo has been investigated by the NTSB, but it is the second investigation Waymo has launched into a school bus problem. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation opened a similar investigation in October.

Waymo released it again program memory in December to solve the problem. But previous software changes weren’t enough to get rid of it, and in Austin, Texas — where most of the footage was caught on camera — the school district has asked the company to suspend operations during pick-up and drop-off.

The new investigation comes as Waymo is in the midst of a rapid expansion across the United States. This week, the company began offering robotaxi service in Miami, expanding its services to Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area.

“We safely operate thousands of school bus events every week in the United States, and Waymo Driver is constantly improving. There have been no collisions in the event in question, and we are confident that our safety on school buses is superior to that of human drivers,” Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s chief security officer, said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We see this as an opportunity to provide the NTSB with clear information about our safety first.”

The NTSB is different from the NHTSA because it is not a federal regulatory agency. It cannot impose fines or penalties. Instead, the security team often conducts a thorough investigation to determine the root cause of traffic problems. After the research is completed, the organization usually holds a discussion and makes non-binding recommendations.

The first known incident where a Waymo car drove over a parked school bus happened last September in Atlanta, Georgia. Waymo pulled out of the road and crossed in front of the school bus from the right side of the bus. Then the robotax turned left and went through the street where the children were getting off the bus.

Waymo said at the time that the car was unable to see a stop sign or flashing lights, and said it had resolved this with a software update.

But while Waymo documented its experience in Atlanta, some of the company’s vehicles were caught driving past stopped school buses in Austin, Texas. Local news outlet KXAN published videos it obtained from school bus cameras that showed Waymo vehicles driving illegally. several times.

“We continue to work with the Austin Independent School District and congratulate them on their success in reducing motor vehicle violations around school buses from 10,000+ per year,” said Peña.