A Waymo robotaxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, on January 23rd, causing minor injuries and prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety administration to open an investigation.
The incident occurred during normal school drop off hours, with other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity, NHTSA said. The child ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV toward the school and was struck by the Waymo vehicle.
In a blog post, Waymo said its vehicle was traveling at 17mph when its autonomous system detected the child and then "braked hard," reducing its s …
