Waymo in Austin: Driverless Cars Face a Reckoning
Austin has become one of the most important testing grounds in America for autonomous vehicles — and also one of the most contentious. Waymo, the Alphabet-owned robotaxi company that launched testing in the city back in 2015, has logged millions of miles on Austin streets.
But a string of high-profile incidents in recent months has forced a harder conversation about whether the technology is ready for the unpredictable realities of a city this size.
The most alarming moment came in the early hours of March 1.
As first responders rushed to the mass shooting at Buford’s on West 6th Street — where a gunman fatally wounded three people and injured 15 others — a Waymo vehicle performing a U-turn blocked an ambulance attempting to reach the scene, forcing the driver to seek an alternate route.
An Austin police officer was eventually patched through to a Waymo representative via the car’s internal communications system and given manual control to clear the vehicle.
That incident alone might have been written off as an edge case. But it came on the heels of a months-long pattern of school bus violations that drew federal scrutiny. The NTSB opened an investigation into Waymo vehicles that had passed Austin ISD buses while unloading students, with at least 20 violations reported by December 2025. In one particularly striking January incident, a Waymo vehicle stopped for a school bus, then queried its remote human operator in Novi, Michigan, asking “Is this a school bus with active signals?” The operator responded “No” — and the vehicle drove past while students were still boarding.
Waymo issued a voluntary software recall of 3,000 cars in December, but violations continued afterward. AISD publicly demanded that Waymo cease operations near schools during loading and unloading hours; Waymo refused.
Despite the controversy, Waymo maintains that its overall safety record compares favorably to human drivers. The company says its vehicles have logged over 100 million miles and that in cities where it operates, there have been 91% fewer crashes with serious injuries and 92% fewer crashes involving pedestrians compared to human-driven vehicles.
Independent analyses have broadly supported these aggregate claims. Waymo’s standard defense — that no injuries resulted from the school bus incidents — has done little to appease Austin ISD officials or the five Austin City Council members who sent a formal letter requesting Waymo appear before a public safety committee in April.
Austin’s regulatory environment has made these disputes harder to resolve locally. Texas banned cities from regulating autonomous vehicles in 2017, and while state lawmakers directed the DMV to draft new AV regulations, those rules won’t take effect until May. In the meantime, Waymo has largely set its own terms.
Compared to its competitors, Waymo remains the clear market leader in Austin and nationally. Austin riders can access Waymo only through the Uber app — one of just two U.S. cities, along with Atlanta, where the service isn’t available through Waymo’s own platform.
Tesla operates a small robotaxi fleet in Austin, but with human safety monitors still riding along. Amazon-owned Zoox, which has been testing retrofitted vehicles in Austin since 2024, announced this week it will begin deploying its purpose-built bidirectional pods in the city as part of a limited early-rider program. Neither competitor is operating at anything close to Waymo’s scale.
sxsw exhibit for the @zoox robotaxi – this vehicle will be launching for public rides in austin in a couple months
— marshall geyer (@marshallgeyer) March 13, 2026
wireless phone chargers next to all 4 seats, sliding doors, bidirectional movement, will be able to order them on the zoox app instead of waymo's uber lottery pic.twitter.com/dT4fniCIV4
Nationally, Waymo expanded to Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Orlando in February, bringing its total to 10 U.S. cities. The company is targeting 400,000 paid rides per week and aiming for one million weekly by the end of 2026, while transitioning its fleet from Jaguar I-PACEs to Zeekr Ojai vans and Hyundai IONIQ 5s.
The road ahead for Waymo in Austin is complicated. The company is simultaneously one of the city’s most visible tech success stories and the subject of active federal investigations by both the NTSB and NHTSA. The April city council meeting could produce binding operational demands — or it could end with more of the same voluntary commitments. As personal injury attorney Tray Gober, a Waymo critic, put it: “Self-driving vehicles are the future. There will be less crashes because of self-driving vehicles. But the future isn’t today because these vehicles are not ready.” For Austin, a city that has long prided itself on being an early adopter, that tension isn’t going away anytime soon.
COMING SOON
Sources
- Axios Austin — “Waymo blocks ambulance responding to Austin mass shooting” (March 2, 2026)
- Texas Tribune — “Austin shooting raises fresh questions about self-driving cars” (March 9, 2026)
- The Robot Report — “Waymo robotaxi fails to stop for school bus in Austin” (March 2026)
- Spectrum News Austin — “NTSB publishes report on Waymo safety investigations” (March 3, 2026)
- Automotive World — “NTSB: Waymo Driver acted ‘illegally’ around school buses” (March 2026)
- Spectrum News Austin — “Texas cities talk about dealing with autonomous vehicles during emergencies” (March 13, 2026)
- KXAN — “Video: Waymo seen blocking first responders during West Sixth shooting” (March 2026)
- CBS News — “NTSB opens investigation into Waymo robotaxis” (January 24, 2026)
- KUT Radio — “Waymo will recall software after self-driving cars passed stopped school buses” (December 8, 2025)
- CNBC — “Robotaxis in 2025: Waymo plots global expansion as Zoox, Tesla roll to the starting line” (December 17, 2025)
- Electrek — “Waymo adds 4 more cities to its robotaxi service, now 10 total” (February 24, 2026)
- TechCrunch — “Zoox brings its robotaxis to Austin and Miami” (March 24, 2026)
- Washington Times / AP — “Waymo robotaxis now being dispatched in 10 major U.S. markets” (February 24, 2026)
- TeslaHubs — “The Great Robotaxi Race: A Look at Tesla’s Competition” (March 2026)
Austin City Manager T.C. Broadnax will host six sessions over the next few weeks to hear what residents think should be included in the upcoming budget.
If you're interested in the city of Austin's budget, make time to attend one of these budget meetings over the next few weeks.
— Jen Robichaux (@JenRobichaux) March 24, 2026
First one happening this week at Dove Springs Rec Center – Wednesday, March 25th at 6:30pmhttps://t.co/yfoAm5Xvwg https://t.co/PswqTZzeUr pic.twitter.com/wT00moCDja
“At this point, we just can’t recommend you move forward with such a decision, because that does create such a significant risk.” — Kim Olivares, the city’s director of financial services
Less than a year after Austin’s City Council signed off on a plan to build parks over sunken stretches of I-35, city staff are now urging elected leaders to pump the brakes on committing any more public money for the ambitious project. (KUT 90.5)
All lanes of Interstate 35 are back open today after a semi-truck crashed into the 11th Street Bridge downtown last night.
An interactive map shows what neighborhoods saw the most 311 complaints in Austin, and what people called about the most. (Austin American-Statesman)
Williamson County Commissioners received an update on active road projects during the March 2026 Road Bond Construction Report on Monday.
Williamson County is moving forward with plans for a new justice complex. County commissioners approved a contract to buy 253 acres in Georgetown.
Williamson County Judge Steve Snell on Tuesday criticized county Republican Chair Michelle Evans over a doctored video and false claims posted by a member of the party’s election integrity committee that led to a death threat against the county’s election administrator. (Austin American-Statesman)
An Austin ISD student brought a loaded gun to campus on Tuesday, officials said.
Anderson High School went into a “hold” for 20 minutes Tuesday morning while officers investigated. A student was found to have a gun in their belongings. (FOX 7 Austin)
Meanwhile, controversy is growing around Austin ISD’s Pride Week, set for this week, as the State Board of Education calls on the district to get rid of the themed week altogether, and some parents argue there are more pressing issues.
Someone was treated for a gunshot wound in the 2100 block of South Congress just after midnight this morning. (Timestamp shown is PDT. Actual local call time was 12:18 a.m.)
A stabbing reported just after 5:30 a.m. this morning in the Riverside area of East Austin.
🚨spotted just now on The Drag: Thurlow Johnson, a violent repeat offender who stabbed us in the hand with a bamboo shank on 11/11/2021 while we walked down Guadalupe near UT. (we lawfully defended ourself and thankfully did not face any criminal charges)
— Austin Videos (@ATXVideos) March 24, 2026
The bamboo shank… https://t.co/CpAomPh6uQ pic.twitter.com/0u1NmDOVZw
Last night at 10:15pm: man threatens to kill @CapMetroATX bus driver in a violent rant while riding up The Drag.
— Austin Videos (@ATXVideos) March 25, 2026
"Yeah my own kids were m——d… …from a bus driver! You touched my kid in the wrong way. F—-t! Alright, imma kill you driver. Give me some time…"
By the… pic.twitter.com/yFQt5WsAY1
We’re expecting over 22K travelers today, which is within a typical Wednesday.
— Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (@AustinAirport) March 25, 2026
Arrive 2.5 hours before for domestic flights and 3 hours before for international flights so that there is plenty of time to complete any pre-security screening activities.
Safe travels! 🤠 pic.twitter.com/2b0ggwLIdj
PODCAST
For many of us, H-E-B is so much more than a grocery store; it’s a cornerstone of the community. In moments of crisis, H-E-B shows up as a lifeline. For local makers, it offers a path to get homegrown products on the shelves. And for everyday shoppers, it’s a place that feels unmistakably Texan (butter torillas included). Host Nikki DaVaughn is joined by Heidi Post, Senior Director of Public Affairs for Central Texas at H-E-B, to unpack how this beloved brand has earned such deep loyalty and why, for so many, it feels almost like a religion.
A nearly 50-acre wildfire in Bastrop State Park has been completely contained.
Three other active fires officials are handling:
Travis County officials have extended the burn ban.
WEATHER
AUSTIN-BERGSTROM INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
CAMP MABRY
5-DAY FORECAST / AUSTIN, TEXAS
What may seem like an unusually large number of meteor sightings and fireballs have been reported across the United States over the last few days.
The pastor from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s home church in Tennessee said last week on a podcast that he wants James Talarico to die, referring to the Texas Democratic state representative and Presbyterian seminarian who regularly discusses his Christian faith in his current bid for U.S. Senate.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is calling on Gov. Greg Abbott to replace the acting comptroller, who he called an “incompetent loser,” over a letter regarding Paxton’s handling of a case related to Islamic schools in the state.
Kelly Hancock is a Never Trumper and an incompetent loser who's an embarrassment to the position of Chief Clerk that he holds.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 25, 2026
To protect Texans' tax dollars, I am officially calling for Governor Abbott to immediately replace him with the person Texans actually voted for to be… https://t.co/P5JXJZZy4P
Texas Republican U.S. Senator John Cornyn discusses the latest poll with Ken Paxton as the two head for a runoff in May. He also talks about the DHS shutdown and a potential deal that could be near. He tells Jack Fink about his thoughts on the war against Iran.
Why Iowa, Alaska, and Texas could represent the crucial “seventh” seat Democrats need to win back control and how these long-shot races could become competitive and what it would take to pull off an upset.
The state quietly shuttered a jail booking facility in Val Verde County last summer that had operated as a hub of Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star border crackdown, state officials acknowledged Tuesday. (Texas Tribune)
Federal officials said Monday that border walls are no longer being planned for a stretch of Big Bend Ranch State Park in West Texas, a shift from earlier indications that walls could be built along the Rio Grande on the park’s western edge. (KUT 90.5)
Texas’ sprawling immigration lockups are serving as a national blueprint. What’s life like for detainees?
(Episode from March 24, 2026)
We’re learning more about the tactics and technology used by police in Texas during deportation proceedings. The Texas Newsroom has accessed body and dashcam videos from an incident last summer in East Austin that ended with five people in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
(Episode from March 24, 2026)
The Texas Education Agency is issuing a new order to force public schools to remove mentions of Cesar Chavez from their lessons.
Elon Musk’s tunneling company is one step closer to digging in Dallas, after a site in the southern part of the city was selected as a winner of a competition for The Boring Company’s next project on Tuesday. It selected Baltimore, Dallas and New Orleans as winners of its Tunnel Vision Challenge – a competition that kicked off in January in which winners receive a one-mile underground tunnel for use including a Loop and pedestrian traffic. (USA Today via MSN)
36% of TSA officers called out at Houston’s airport as lawmakers try to negotiate a deal to end the partial government shutdown.
SPORTS
DOWN GOES NO. 2 TEXAS 😳
— ESPN (@espn) March 25, 2026
Houston upsets the Longhorns with a 9-7 win 👏 pic.twitter.com/G88HR3upge
COLLEGE BASEBALL: Despite matching a season-high 11 walks at the plate, No. 2 Texas fell to Houston, 9-7, at Schroeder Park on Tuesday night. The Longhorns (20-4) exploded for seven runs midway through the evening, but the Cougars (13-11) scored nine unanswered tallies to rally for the midweek victory. (Texas Longhorns)
ON THE SCHEDULE
Another big SEC series this weekend begins tomorrow.
NBA: No games from Dallas, Houston or San Antonio yesterday, but they’re all back it tonight, In fact, the Mavericks, Rockets and Spurs all have games on the road.
NHL: The Devils made them do it.
Jack Hughes scored twice in New Jersey’s four-goal first period, and the Devils handed Dallas consecutive losses in regulation for the first time in two months, beating the Stars 6-4 on Tuesday night. Dallas has dropped their last two games. They hadn’t lost consecutive games since dropping three straight from Jan. 13-18. (Associated Press)
The Stars are off tonight. They travel to New York tomorrow to face the Islanders.
Before streaming and playlists, country music lived on the radio — and in Texas, it found its true home.
This video explores ten forgotten radio stations that defined Texas Country & Western, the voices that brought honky-tonk, outlaw country, and traditional Western sounds to generations of listeners.
