---
title: "Federal Officials Put the Brakes on a Driverless School Bus"
description: "The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has forbidden a French tech company from continuing a driverless school bus pilot project in Florida."
date: "2018-10-23"
modified: "2018-10-23"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/driverless-school-bus-pilot"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "Autonomous vehicles"
  - "NHTSA"
  - "the digest"
  - "transdev"
---

# Federal Officials Put the Brakes on a Driverless School Bus

![Default Futurism featured image](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Futurism-Filler-Image.jpg>)

## Under the Bus

U.S. regulators gave [Transdev](<https://www.transdev.com/en/>) an inch, and it took a mile.

That's the takeaway from a [statement](<https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/nhtsa-directs-driverless-shuttle-stop-transporting-school-children-florida>) released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on Friday. It's not happy that the French transportation company has been [ferrying kids to school](<https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/10/feds-shut-down-self-driving-school-bus-pilot-in-florida/>) on a driverless school bus — a use for its autonomous tech of which the agency says it did *not* approve.

## New School

In March, the NHTSA agreed to let Transdev import a driverless shuttle into the country from France so it could test and demonstrate the vehicle on U.S roads. But the sort of testing the NHTSA agreed to isn't the only testing Transdev conducted.

In September, the company [launched a pilot project](<https://globenewswire.com/news-release/2018/08/31/1563986/0/en/Transdev-Babcock-Ranch-Debut-First-Autonomous-School-Shuttle.html>) in Babcock Ranch, Florida. Every Friday, the company's 12-person shuttle transported children to and from Babcock Neighborhood School, which services students in grades K through 7.

The trip took just a few minutes each way, and the driverless school bus, which did have a safety driver on board, never exceeded a speed of 8 miles per hour.

## Safety Failure

Those safety precautions weren't enough to stop the NHTSA from shutting down the project, though.

In its Friday statement, the agency noted that Transdev never asked permission to use its shuttle as a school bus.

"Innovation must not come at the risk of public safety," said Heidi King, NHTSA Deputy Administrator. "Using a non-compliant test vehicle to transport children is irresponsible, inappropriate, and in direct violation of the terms of Transdev’s approved test project."

Clearly, transitioning to an era in which driverless vehicles are the norm is going to require [rigorous testing](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-government-fully-autonomous-vehicles>) of the vehicles in real-world situations. But testing them without the proper permission *and* with children on board? That earns Transdev a big red "F" in our grade book.

**READ MORE:** [Feds Shut Down Self-Driving School Bus Pilot in Florida](<https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/10/feds-shut-down-self-driving-school-bus-pilot-in-florida/>) \[*Ars Technica*\]

***More on driverless cars: [The US Government Wants to Allow Fully Autonomous Vehicles on US Roads](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-government-fully-autonomous-vehicles>)***

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)