Waymo’s string of scrutiny continues.

The company, which provides self-driving taxis, has been under fire for its vehicles not stopping for stopped school buses when students were loading. Instances of illegal passing have been reported across the country, though Austin, Texas, has been at the heart of the matter.

Now, a Senate investigation has raised new concerns over AV companies' use of remote assistance operators.

What Happened in Austin?

Austin ISD officials said that Waymo cars have had at least 19 instances of not following the law when it comes to safety around school buses. In response, last December, Waymo issued a recall and software update. The company claimed that safety is paramount while it backed its vehicles and technology.

The incidents continued to happen.

Then, last month, the NTSB launched an investigation and found that in one case, the vehicle’s automated driving system contacted a remote assistance agent with the prompt: “Is this a school bus with active signals?” According to the NTSB, a remote operator in Michigan responded “No,” and the vehicle passed the bus while its stop arms were still extended.

Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña testified in a Senate hearing that the company does use remote operators when a vehicle encounters a situation it does not know how to handle.

Other Waymo Incidents

An 11Alive investigation also found at least six cases of Waymo vehicles passing stopped Atlanta Public Schools buses.

Other issues not involving school buses have also been reported.

During a San Francisco blackout, hundreds of Waymo robotaxis stalled in intersections and blocked emergency vehicles. The city’s mayor asked for the removal of the autonomous vehicles. In Austin, a police officer responding to a mass shooting was pulled off the scene to physically move a stalled Waymo. First responders have intervened in at least six similar incidents.

“Robotaxi companies are racing to expand before the rules can catch up, and now we know they have been doing it without telling anyone how often a human has to step in to prevent a disaster,” said Witherite Law Group founder Amy Witherite. “The public deserves to be served by this technology — not used as its testing ground."

What Did the Senate Report Find?

Sen. Edward J. Markey, a member of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, released a report last week highlighting a lack of transparency from Waymo and other AV companies (including Aurora, May Mobility, Motional, Nuro, Tesla, and Zoox) regarding its use of remote operators.

In the report, “Remote Backseat Operators: Revealing the Autonomous Vehicle Industry’s Reliance on Human Remote Assistance Operators,” Markey detailed letters sent to each company asking about their remote assistance, with questions on frequency of human intervention, location of operations, qualifications, and cybersecurity standards.

Each company refused to disclose how frequently their remote operators intervene to help their self-driving cars.

According to a press release, Waymo was found to be the only AV company using overseas RAOs, with a substantial share of its operator workforce not holding a U.S. driver’s license. Latency between vehicles and remote operators varied widely across companies, with each firm setting its own threshold for what constitutes a safety risk.

“Autonomous vehicle companies make big promises about safety, but it turns out human workers still play a critical role,” said Sen. Markey. “These operations demand urgent federal regulation.”

Markey is urging NHTSA to investigate further and said he is working on legislation to impose regulations around the AV industry’s use of remote operators.