The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating Waymo after a robotaxi hit a child near a Los Angeles-area elementary school.
Waymo said that the child suffered minor injuries in the incident last Friday, according to an NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation report.
The child was hit by the Waymo vehicle after running toward the school from behind a double-parked SUV during normal school drop-off hours. The robotaxi did not have a safety operator inside.
At the time of the collision, a crossing guard, several other children and other double-parked cars were also present near the Santa Monica school, per the NHTSA report.
In a blog post, Waymo said its autonomous driving system detected the child and slowed the robotaxi from 17 to 6 mph before hitting the child.
Waymo claimed that its model found that a human driver in the same situation would have hit the child at 14 mph.
Waymo reported the incident the same day it occurred, and NHTSA opened its investigation on Wednesday.
The NHTSA said in a statement that it’s looking into “whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution, given, among other things, its proximity to the elementary school during drop-off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users.”
Waymo said it’s cooperating with the investigation and that “we remain committed to improving road safety where we operate as we continue on our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.”
Previously, the Austin Independent School District in Texas asked Waymo to stop its operations within the district during times when kids would be getting off and on school buses. This comes after incidents where Waymo robotaxis did not stop for the buses.
The National Transportation Safety Board announced its own investigation into the matter last Friday.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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