– Self-driving company Waymo (Google) is at the center of a new federal investigation after an automated vehicle struck a child near a California elementary school.
The Jan. 23 incident in Santa Monica involved an autonomous Waymo vehicle, with no safety operator in the vehicle.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the vehicle was running on Waymo’s 5th generation Automated Driving System (ADS) during normal school hours.
In the immediate vicinity there were other children, a crossing guard and several double-parked vehicles. The child ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV and was struck, sustaining minor injuries.
Waymo released a statement after the incident, noting that it was the self-driving company that contacted NHTSA about the collision on the day of the incident.
According to Waymo, the incident could have been much worse had it not been for the self-driving technology, as the child suddenly emerged from behind a large SUV and fell directly into the vehicle’s path.
The “Waymo Driver” (technology) “immediately noticed the individual as soon as he came from behind the stationary vehicle. The Waymo Driver applied the brakes hard and reduced the speed from approximately 30 km/h to less than 10 km/h before contact was made.”
The self-driving car company insists that a “fully attentive human driver in the same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at a speed of approximately 14 miles per hour.”
The affidavit states that the child got up and walked to the sidewalk while Waymo called 911.
“This event demonstrates the critical value of our safety systems. We remain committed to improving road safety wherever we operate as we continue our mission to be the most trusted driver in the world.” — Waymo
The company says it will fully cooperate with the investigation, which follows a separate federal investigation opened in October 2025 to learn more about how self-driving Waymo vehicles operate around school buses.
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