Waymo Robotaxi Expansion Collides With Mounting Safety Scrutiny

Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous driving subsidiary, is having two very different years at once. Commercially, it is growing quickly, adding cities and cutting costs. On the regulatory side, it has spent much of 2026 answering federal safety investigators about school buses, a child struck near a school, and cars driving into floodwater. How those two tracks interact will shape the next phase of the robotaxi business.

The growth story

Waymo opened its driverless ride-hailing service to the general public in Denver, San Diego, and Tampa, bringing its footprint to 14 U.S. cities 12. Tens of thousands of people had joined waitlists in each market, and the company said it would admit them gradually 12. Those three cities moved from employee-and-guest testing to public service in under two months, following Las Vegas going fully driverless in July 12. Riders in Denver and San Diego are getting the company's new Zeekr-built, minivan-style vehicle running its next-generation Waymo Driver 12.

The company has framed the expansion around a target of one million weekly paid rides by the end of 2026 and has reported cutting its cost per mile to $0.85 11. If that figure holds up, it would mark a meaningful step toward robotaxis competing on price, not just novelty.

The school bus problem

The most persistent safety controversy involves stopped school buses. NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation, PE25013, into how Waymo's automated driving system handles buses with flashing red lights and deployed stop arms 9. NPR reported the probe began in October after an Atlanta TV station aired video of a Waymo driving around a bus 3. A detailed information request covering all 5th-generation-equipped vehicles followed in a December 3, 2025 letter 910.

Accounts of the scale vary somewhat. A letter from the Austin Independent School District on NHTSA's site cited 19 documented instances, including one where a Waymo passed a bus moments after a student crossed in front of it 38. Later reports put the Austin count at 20 citations, with Atlanta officials identifying at least six more cases 410. Austin school police said the company declined to halt service during pickup and drop-off times 10. Waymo issued a software recall 38 and pushed an update to more than 3,000 vehicles, though districts say violations continued afterward 4.

Santa Monica and the flooding recall

On January 23, 2026, a Waymo struck a 9-year-old child at low speed in Santa Monica, within two blocks of an elementary school during drop-off hours 25. The injuries were minor, but NHTSA and the NTSB both opened inquiries, and one analysis described it as the company's second child-related incident 5. Waymo has since submitted its final, partly redacted document set to NHTSA, and the investigation's financial impact on Alphabet appears limited so far 2.

Separately, in May Waymo recalled 3,791 vehicles running its 5th- and 6th-generation systems because the software could slow and then drive into standing water on higher-speed roads, risking loss of control 1. A permanent fix was still in development; in the interim, the company tightened weather-related operating limits 1.

A permissive federal backdrop

These probes are unfolding while Washington is trying to make room for autonomous vehicles, not restrict them. At NHTSA's first National AV Safety Forum in March, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called for updating Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards that still assume steering wheels, pedals, and mirrors, which are costly obstacles for purpose-built robotaxis 6. That fits the broader U.S. model of self-certification and an "innovation-first" posture, in contrast to the EU's requirement for third-party type approval before market entry 7. Exemptions have been the main path for companies like Waymo to deploy vehicles without human controls 7.

What it adds up to

The pattern here is not a single catastrophic failure but a string of edge cases: school buses, school zones, floodwater. These are situations human drivers are expected to handle by rule or instinct, and Waymo's software sometimes doesn't. The company's response has generally been software updates and recalls rather than service pauses, which is consistent with a regulatory culture that lets products ship and corrects them afterward.

The risk is that this model depends on local trust. School districts asking for operating-hour restrictions 45 signal that the friction is shifting from federal paperwork to city streets. With the fleet scaling toward a million weekly rides, each unresolved edge case is encountered more often. Federal rules may be loosening, but Waymo's real test is whether its safety fixes can keep pace with its map.