As robotaxis become more mainstream and spread across American cities, accidents are bound to happen.
Unfortunately, we’re already starting to see some. A Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January 23. Luckily, the child suffered only minor injuries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said Wednesday that the incident happened during normal school drop-off hours, roughly two blocks from the school. According to the administration, there were other children in the area along with a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles along the street.
The child reportedly ran across the street toward the school from behind a parked SUV and was struck by the robotaxi, which did not have a safety operator inside the vehicle.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation said it has opened a probe to determine whether the Waymo “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.” The investigation will also examine the vehicle’s automated driving system and its intended behavior in school zones.
“This event demonstrates the critical value of our safety systems,” Waymo said in a blog post on Wednesday about the incident. “We remain committed to improving road safety where we operate as we continue on our mission to be the world’s most trusted driver.”
According to Waymo, the vehicle’s technology detected the child immediately after they began running from behind the SUV, causing the car to brake hard and reduce its speed from approximately 17 miles per hour to under 6 miles per hour before making contact. In contrast, Waymo said that based on its peer-reviewed model, an attentive human driver in the same situation would have struck the child at approximately 14 miles per hour.
The company said the child stood up immediately after the crash and was able to walk to the sidewalk. The vehicle then called 911 and remained at the scene until law enforcement gave it clearance to leave. Waymo also said it voluntarily contacted NHTSA that same day.
The accident comes just a month after NHTSA sent Waymo a letter announcing a preliminary investigation following multiple reports that Waymo vehicles failed to wait for stopped school buses with flashing lights and instead drove around them. That probe is focused on whether the vehicles’ automated systems are able to properly follow traffic laws related to school buses.
In November, Waymo issued a recall affecting more than 3,000 vehicles to address the issue. However, incidents reportedly continued afterward. The Austin Independent School District told CBS News in December that it was aware of at least 20 such incidents.
The probes come as Waymo continues expanding its robotaxi service into more cities. The company currently operates in the San Francisco Bay Area, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and, most recently, Miami. Waymo has also announced plans to expand into additional markets, including Baltimore, St. Louis, and Philadelphia.
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