Waymo disclosed that one of its driverless robotaxis struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January twenty-third, according to a report provided to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The child reportedly sustained minor injuries, though specific details regarding their identity and age remain undisclosed at this time. Both the NHTSA and the NTSB have initiated formal investigations into the operational safety of the autonomous vehicle (AV) system.
Following the collision, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation announced its inquiry, focusing on whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution given its proximity to the school during high-traffic drop-off hours. Regulators noted the presence of other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the immediate vicinity of the crash, as reported by TechCrunch.
Waymo stated in a published blog post that the vehicle was traveling at six miles per hour upon impact, having executed a hard brake from approximately seventeen miles per hour. The company maintained that the young pedestrian suddenly emerged into the vehicle’s path from behind a tall, stationary SUV. Waymo asserted its system immediately detected the individual as they began to appear from behind the obstruction.
According to Waymo’s account, the pedestrian stood up immediately after contact, walked to the sidewalk, and emergency services were contacted by the vehicle’s remote support team. The robotaxi remained stopped in place until law enforcement authorized it to relocate to the side of the road and await further instructions.
Adding context, Waymo cited its own internal modeling, suggesting a fully attentive human driver in the exact same scenario would have made contact at approximately fourteen miles per hour. The company has not yet released a specific forensic analysis detailing the sequence of events leading to this particular incident.
This collision occurs while Waymo is already facing concurrent federal scrutiny regarding unrelated operational issues. The NHTSA opened a probe in October concerning reports of Waymo vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses in Atlanta, Georgia, and the NTSB subsequently initiated its own investigation into similar incidents in Austin, Texas.
These ongoing regulatory actions underscore the intense scrutiny autonomous vehicle developers face as they expand operations into complex, dynamic urban environments. The findings from these multiple investigations will significantly influence the regulatory framework governing Level 4 and Level 5 autonomy deployment across the industry.
