Feds Open Waymo Investigation After Self-driving Car Hits Child

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into an incident where a Waymo self-driving vehicle hit a child in California.

According to Reuters, one of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles struck a child Jan. 23 after they ran into the street, emerging from behind a vehicle that was double parked, outside a school during a time when children were being dropped off. 

“Our technology immediately detected the individual as soon as they began to emerge from behind the stopped vehicle,” the company said in its corporate blog. “The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made.”

After the child was struck, they got up and walked to the sidewalk while the Waymo vehicle followed protocol, remaining on the scene, but pulling over to the side of the road until police cleared it to leave. Waymo officials said the company is cooperating with the NHTSA investigation. Since then, the National Transportation Safety Board announced it will begin investigating the incident as well.

Waymo officials appear to be confident in the performance of the vehicle, noting it handled the situation well. 

“Our peer-reviewed model shows that a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at 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 in the blog.

The incident is the latest in a string involving self-driving vehicles from Waymo, Tesla, and other test vehicles from other autonomous technology developers. The most prominent being an incident October 2023 when a self-driving vehicle from General Motors’ subsidiary, Cruise LLC, hit a pedestrian that fell off her bike.

The vehicle initially stopped but then attempted to follow protocol by pulling over to the side of the road, hitting the cyclist again and dragging her several feet before stopping. The Cruise vehicle wasn’t involved in the first crash but was simply trying to navigate away from the scene.

More and more autonomous vehicles are undergoing real-world testing in several cities around the U.S. including San Francisco, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Austin, Texas, among others. 

[Images: Waymo, Cruise LLC]

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