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AUSTIN (KXAN) An autonomous vehicle operated by Waymo encountered a situation in Austin where it needed to verify if a nearby school bus was signaling for drivers to stop. The vehicle reached out to a remote assistance agent in Michigan for guidance. Unfortunately, the human agent incorrectly informed the car that the bus was not signaling, according to a recent report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
This miscommunication led to the Waymo vehicle unlawfully passing an Austin Independent School District bus for the 24th time during that school year. Footage from the January 12 incident clearly shows the bus with its red strobe lights flashing and two stop signs extended.
The preliminary report provides the first glimpse into the federal government’s probe into incidents involving automated driving systems improperly overtaking school buses while students are loading and unloading.
Related: Waymo vehicles obstructed emergency responders during a shooting incident in Austin.
The NTSB launched their investigation in January following a KXAN report that highlighted over 20 instances of Waymo’s driverless cars illegally passing stopped school buses in the same school year. Several of these violations happened even after Waymo had voluntarily recalled the vehicles and reported implementing software updates to resolve the problem.
The NTSB opened its investigation in January after a KXAN investigation revealed Waymo driverless cars illegally passed stop school buses more than 20 times that school year. Some of the violations occurred after the company issued a voluntary recall and reported updating its software to fix the issue.
Waymo is party to the NTSB investigation and has also met with Austin ISD to run tests alongside its bus fleet and collect data on light patterns and conditions. The company said in January it had seen material improvement in performance since the software update.
“We appreciate the work of the NTSB and will remain a committed and collaborative party to the investigation,” a Waymo spokesperson said.
Austin ISD has reported thousands of stop-arm violations this school year, the vast majority of which have been at the hands of human drivers. The NTSB report highlighted in the Jan. 12 video the Waymo was the first vehicle to initially stop for the school bus, and three other vehicles illegally passed the bus after.
The report points out it was only after the remote assistance agent replied “no” to the car’s prompt that it passed the bus’ stop signs. The NTSB said its ongoing investigation is examining all the reported stop-arms violations in Austin, including a Jan. 14 incident involving a school bus operating on a special needs route.
According to Waymo officials, there are approximately 70 remove assistance agents on duty worldwide. The agents do not continuously monitor vehicles, but instead respond to specific requests for information from the automated driving system.
On Tuesday, the NTSB also released another preliminary report on its safety investigation into a Waymo car that struck a 9-year-old student in a crosswalk near a school in Santa Monica, California. Investigators said in the report the Jan. 23 crash remains under investigation while the NTSB determines probable cause.
According to the report, the student reported minor injuries and the remote assistance agent based in Michigan called 911 and promoted the vehicle with direction to move to a nearby curb.