The child was struck by a Waymo during normal school drop-off hours.
The United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it is opening an investigation after a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, last week, causing minor injuries and renewing concerns about the safety of robotaxis.
The car safety agency said on Thursday that the child ran across the street on January 23 from behind a double-parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Alphabet-unit Waymo autonomous vehicle during normal school drop-off hours. The agency said there were other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity.
Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list
The incident comes as robotaxis are being deployed in rising numbers across the country. The US Senate Commerce Committee had already scheduled a hearing on self-driving cars for February 4, which will include Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Pena.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) also said it will investigate the incident.
Waymo said in a blog post on Thursday that it will cooperate in the investigation and said the child “suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle’s path”.
It added that the self-driving vehicle immediately detected the individual as soon as the child emerged from behind the stopped vehicle, braking hard and reducing speed from approximately 17 miles per hour (27 kilometres per hour) to under 6mph (10km/h) before contact was made.
NHTSA is opening a preliminary evaluation to investigate whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution given its proximity to the elementary school during drop-off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users.
The agency said it plans to examine the vehicle’s “intended behaviour in school zones and neighbouring areas, especially during normal school pick-up and drop-off times, including but not limited to its adherence to posted speed limits” and will “also investigate Waymo’s post-impact response”.
Rising incidents
Waymo said a computer model suggested a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14mph (23km/h). After the collision, the child stood up immediately, walked to the pavement, and Waymo called 911.
“The vehicle remained stopped, moved to the side of the road, and stayed there until law enforcement cleared the vehicle to leave the scene,” Waymo said.
The same day as the incident, the NTSB opened an investigation into Waymo after its robotaxis illegally passed stopped school buses in Austin, Texas, at least 19 times since the start of the school year.
Waymo in December recalled more than 3,000 vehicles to update the software that had caused vehicles to drive past stopped school buses that were loading or unloading students, increasing the risk of a crash. NHTSA opened a probe in October into Waymo vehicles near school buses.
Waymo said there were no collisions in the incidents. The Austin Independent School District said five incidents occurred in November after Waymo installed software updates to resolve the issue. The school system asked the company to halt operations around schools during pick-up and drop-off times until it could ensure the vehicles would not violate the law. In December, the school district told the Reuters news agency that Waymo had refused to halt operations around schools.
In late December, a Waymo crushed to death a cat in San Francisco and a month later, a dog met the same fate.
