Waymo Robotaxi Hits Child Near School, Triggering Federal Probe
The incident occurred last Friday during the drop-off hour at Grant Elementary School in Santa Monica, California. According to federal reports and eyewitness accounts, the child suddenly darted into the street from behind a double-parked SUV. The Waymo vehicle, operating with no human safety driver behind the wheel, struck the child within two blocks of the school. While the student thankfully sustained only minor injuries and was able to walk to the sidewalk before being treated, the event triggered an immediate investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Waymo released a detailed blog post with technical data just days after the crash. In the statement, the company said that the taxi's automated driving system detected the child as soon as they emerged from behind the visual obstruction of the parked SUV. It goes on to say that the vehicle "braked hard," rapidly decelerating from 17 mph to less than 6 mph before the moment of impact. To bolster its case, Waymo pointed to its own peer-reviewed safety models, claiming that a fully attentive human driver in the exact same scenario would have likely struck the child at 14 mph, thus potentially causing more injury.
Nonetheless, the NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation is objectively more interested in whether the AI exercised "appropriate caution" given the high-risk environment. In a school zone populated by crossing guards, double-parked cars, and impulsive children, regulators are questioning if 17 mph was a responsible speed to begin with, regardless of the posted limit.
This collision is the latest in a string of school-related headaches for the Alphabet-owned company. Also last week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) opened a separate probe into reports of Waymo vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses in Austin and Atlanta. These compounding issues have led school districts in multiple states to demand that Waymo suspend operations during morning and afternoon bell times until the technology proves it can respect the unique rules of the schoolyard.
As the US Senate prepares for a February hearing on autonomous vehicle safety, the Santa Monica accident proves that no matter how good self-driving cars have become, the "last mile" problem still needs attention.
