A driverless Waymo vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting a federal safety investigation into the autonomous vehicle company’s operations around schools.
The incident occurred on Friday during morning drop-off hours when a child ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV toward the school. According to information Waymo provided to regulators, the company’s autonomous vehicle struck the child, who sustained minor injuries.
Waymo, owned by Google parent company Alphabet, said its technology detected the child immediately as they emerged from behind the parked vehicle. “The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made,” the company stated in a blog post. After the collision, the child “stood up immediately, walked to the sidewalk, and we called 911.”
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has opened a preliminary evaluation to assess “whether the Waymo AV 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,” according to documents posted on the agency’s website.
The incident occurred within two blocks of an elementary school while other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles were in the vicinity. The Waymo vehicle was operating on the company’s fifth-generation Automated Driving System with no human safety supervisor present.
This investigation comes as Waymo already faces regulatory scrutiny for its robotaxis’ behavior around school buses. Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board initiated a separate investigation after reports of Waymo vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses in several locations. The Austin Independent School District previously identified at least 19 incidents where Waymo vehicles passed school buses and demanded the company stop operations during school bus hours.
Waymo claims its technology performed better than a human would have in the same situation. The company stated a fully attentive human driver would likely have struck the pedestrian at a higher speed of approximately 14 mph. “This significant reduction in impact speed and severity is a demonstration of the material safety benefit of the Waymo Driver,” the company said.
Waymo said it would fully cooperate with the NHTSA’s investigation and noted that it voluntarily contacted the agency on the same day as the incident.
According to NHTSA, Waymo’s robotaxis surpassed 100 million miles of driving in July 2025 and continue to accumulate 2 million miles weekly. The company currently operates autonomous ride-hailing services in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, with plans to expand to numerous additional cities in the coming years.
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