Waymo said one of its robo-taxis hit a child who was slightly injured. The incident took place in Santa Monica, California on January 23. The company reported it to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which opened an investigation.
The agency said the incident occurred near a school, during normal drop-off hours, with other children and a crossing guard nearby. The child ran behind a double-parked SUV in the path of a Waymo driver. Waymo said its vehicle detected the child immediately as they exited and the robotaxi braked hard to reduce its speed from about 17 mph to less than 6 mph at the time of impact.
Waymo said the child immediately got up and walked toward the sidewalk. The company contacted emergency services and the vehicle remained parked on the side of the road until police cleared it to drive away.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation will review whether the Waymo driver exercised care given that he was near a school during drop-off hours and children were nearby. The investigation is expected to examine the intended behavior of the vehicle’s automated driving systems around schools (particularly during normal pick-up and drop-off hours) and Waymo’s response to the incident.
On the day of the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigation against Waymo over its vehicles improperly passing school buses in Austin, Texas. Last month, the company carried out a voluntary software recall (i.e., it updated its systems) after NHTSA opened an investigation into Waymo vehicles allegedly passing stopped school buses in Austin and Atlanta.
