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.
The formal investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration 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.
According to a filing, Waymo issued a fix for the software issue in mid-November and a voluntary recall a month later. But the government says that the majority of school bus issues occurred after that date.
Why are still so few laws that would penalize the company for misbehaving self driving cars? It’s no longer a new problem.
The existing laws are sufficient. The problem is lack of enforcement.
We need major penalties or people will die.
