The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration, or NHTSA, as we speak mentioned it’s opening an investigation into Waymo LLC, a self-driving automobile developer and subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. The company is investigating an incident by which a Waymo automobile struck a toddler close to an elementary faculty in Santa Monica, Calif., final week.
In keeping with the NHTSA, on Jan. 23, a toddler ran throughout the road from behind a double-parked SUV towards an elementary faculty. When the kid emerged from behind the SUV, a Waymo autonomous automobile (AV) struck the kid.
The accident occurred throughout regular faculty drop-off hours, mentioned the NHTSA. It added that different kids, a crossing guard, and several other double-parked automobiles had been within the neighborhood.
Waymo claimed that its know-how detected the kid as quickly as she emerged from behind the parked automobiles. The firm mentioned its automobile braked exhausting, decreasing velocity from roughly 17 mph to below 6 mph (27.3 to 9.6 kph) earlier than contact was made.
After the AV struck the kid, Waymo mentioned the kid stood up instantly and walked to the sidewalk. The corporate known as 911, and the automobile moved to the facet of the street to attend for regulation enforcement to reach. Waymo additionally famous that it voluntarily contacted the NHTSA on the identical day and that it plans to totally cooperate with the investigation. It mentioned the kid sustained minor accidents.
As well as, Waymo asserted that its peer-reviewed research confirmed {that a} totally attentive human driver would have made contact with the pedestrian at roughly 14 mph (22.5 kph). That is tough to confirm, as the corporate has not launched a video of the incident.
Contained in the NHTSA investigation, Waymo’s faculty bus troubles
Screenshot from a video capturing one of many incidents of a Waymo robotaxi illegally passing a stopped faculty bus. | Credit score: Austin ISD
The NHTSA’s Workplace of Defects Investigation (ODI) has opened a preliminary analysis into whether or not the automated driving system (ADS) exercised applicable warning given its proximity to the elementary faculty throughout drop-off hours.
ODI mentioned it’ll seemingly study the ADS’s supposed conduct at school zones and neighboring areas, particularly throughout regular faculty decide up/drop off occasions, together with however not restricted to its adherence to posted velocity limits. The workplace may also examine Waymo’s post-impact response.
However this isn’t the primary downside Waymo has had when making an attempt to navigate faculty drop-offs. In December, Waymo introduced that it will file a voluntary software program recall in response to its robotaxis illegally passing stopped faculty buses in a lot of incidents throughout totally different states.
In September, WXIA-TV in Atlanta aired a video exhibiting a Waymo illegally passing a stopped faculty bus. A month later, the NHTSA opened an investigation into Waymo round “site visitors security violations referring to stopping when encountering a college bus, significantly when the bus is boarding or offboarding college students.”
Residents and faculty officers noticed related issues in Austin, Texas. The Austin Impartial Faculty District detailed 19 totally different situations of a Waymo robotaxi “illegally and dangerously” passing Austin faculty buses because the 2025-2026 faculty 12 months in a letter it despatched to the NHTSA.
The college district requested that Waymo stop operations in the course of the occasions faculty buses could be loading and unloading.
Trying again at Waymo’s security report
This additionally isn’t the primary time a Waymo automobile has struck an individual. In February 2024, a Waymo automobile ran right into a bicyclist in Potrero Hill in San Francisco. The bike owner turned left in entrance of the automobile because it entered the intersection.
The Waymo automobile was unable to detect the bicyclist earlier as a result of it was following carefully behind a big truck that handed by the intersection instantly earlier than the automobile began to undergo.
In keeping with NHTSA, Waymo’s robotaxis surpassed 100 million miles of driving in July 2025, and the corporate continues to build up 2 million miles every week. The corporate presently operates autonomous ride-hailing companies in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Within the U.S., Waymo mentioned its robotaxis have already pushed greater than 10 million paid rides.
Waymo final issued a voluntary recall in Might 2025, when it recalled 1,212 robotaxis to deal with dangers of collisions with chains, gates, and different roadway limitations. The corporate mentioned it resolved the underlying software program difficulty by a November 2024 replace that diminished the chance of these kind of occasions.
Waymo can be below growing security scrutiny because it continues to broaden its AV service. It intends to broaden or launch companies in Nashville, Las Vegas, San Diego, Detroit, Washington D.C., Miami, Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Orlando, San Antonio, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Denver within the coming years.
As well as, the corporate is planning to deliver its know-how abroad. Waymo mentioned it needs to deploy in London in 2026, and it has already deployed check automobiles in Tokyo to study native site visitors patterns.
