By Keerthi Ramesh
Federal safety regulators have opened an inquiry into a Waymo self-driving vehicle after the autonomous taxi struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, last week, authorities said.
The incident on Jan. 23 occurred during the morning drop-off period within a couple of blocks of the school, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement. The child, whose age has not been released, ran unexpectedly into the street from behind a double-parked SUV and made contact with the robotaxi as it moved toward the campus.
According to Waymo, a unit of Alphabet Inc., its automated driving system detected the child’s sudden movement and applied the brakes sharply. The vehicle’s speed was reduced from about 17 miles per hour to under 6 mph before the impact, the company said.
After the collision, the child was able to stand and walk to the sidewalk, emergency responders confirmed. Waymo officials said they called 911 immediately and kept the vehicle stopped at the scene until law enforcement cleared it to leave. Minor injuries were reported, but there was no indication of serious harm.
“The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed … before contact was made,” Waymo said in a blog post detailing the event. The company also released findings from a peer-reviewed model suggesting that a fully attentive human driver in the same situation would likely have struck the child at a higher speed.
The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has launched a preliminary evaluation to determine whether the self-driving system exercised appropriate caution, especially given the proximity to the school, the presence of other children and a crossing guard, and traffic conditions typical during drop-off hours. The agency said it plans to review how the vehicle behaved in the school zone and how it responded after the impact.
No human safety operator was present in the Waymo vehicle at the time, according to authorities. Federal officials do not yet know if the vehicle had passengers.
In a separate action, the National Transportation Safety Board has also begun its own investigation into the crash, which adds to growing federal scrutiny of autonomous vehicles on public roads.
The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District said it is reinforcing traffic and pedestrian safety messages at its campuses in the wake of the incident. Local officials and parents gathered at the scene recalled the startled moments after the collision but stressed relief that injuries were minor.
Read: Waymo to launch robotaxi services in Washington DC in 2026 (March 26, 2025)
The Waymo investigation comes at a time when robotaxi services are expanding rapidly across several U.S. cities, and safety concerns have surfaced around how autonomous systems navigate complex real-world settings. In late 2025, Waymo recalled thousands of vehicles to address problems with cars improperly passing stopped school buses, a separate safety probe highlighted by federal regulators.
Waymo said it will cooperate fully with investigators and reiterated its commitment to improving automated driving technology as regulators and lawmakers continue to debate how best to manage autonomous vehicles on public streets.