On a weekday morning in Atlanta, a marked school bus pulls to the curb. The red stop arm swings out. Traffic is supposed to freeze and wait patiently. In at least six recent cases, though, it didn’t. All involve Waymo robotaxis.

Atlanta Public Schools says it documented multiple incidents involving Waymo’s driverless cars passing stopped school buses. Each time, it happened while children were being picked up or dropped off.

The episodes add a new layer of concern to the growing list of real-world edge cases facing self-driving cars as they spread into busy city streets.

Waymo’s robotaxis began operating in select parts of Atlanta over the summer

Since then, the robotaxis have drawn attention for messy behavior that belongs in demo stages, not actual traffic.

In other cities, Waymo cars have been involved in incidents that include running over a cat in San Francisco and driving through an active police traffic stop in Los Angeles.

In Atlanta, one vehicle attempted to continue down a closed road and only stopped after detecting a police officer standing in front of it, eventually turning around.

Videos have also shown the cars entering streets closed for construction and pausing in the middle of intersections.

The school bus violations may be the most sensitive yet.

According to Axios, APS responded by instructing its bus drivers to wait until Waymo cars come to a complete stop before opening their doors. It’s an extra step that quietly shifts responsibility back onto human drivers to compensate for machine uncertainty.

Waymo issues have not gone unnoticed at the federal level

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened a preliminary investigation after similar incidents occurred in multiple states.

Waymo also issued a voluntary recall, explaining that a software issue could cause vehicles to initially slow or stop for a school bus, then continue moving. The company rolled out a software update on November 17. Waymo reported improved performance afterward.

But the fix may not be airtight. After the update, Waymo vehicles reportedly passed stopped school buses at least three times in the Austin Independent School District.

That information was passed to NHTSA, which is now asking Waymo for more details by January 20, 2026.

In Georgia, state Sen. Rick Williams is asking whether autonomous vehicles should remain on public roads while Waymo sorts out its glitches.