JAKARTA - The United States highway safety authority opened an investigation after an autonomous Waymo vehicle hit a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, last week, resulting in minor injuries.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Thursday, January 29, that the incident occurred on January 23, during the school-to-home commute. According to the agency, the child ran across the road from behind a double-parked SUV to school, then was hit by Alphabet's Waymo autonomous vehicle.
NHTSA said that at the time of the incident, there were other children around the location, a school crossing guard, and several vehicles parked double in the area.
Waymo, in a blog post on Thursday, said it would cooperate fully with the investigation. The company said the child "suddenly entered the road from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle lane."
Waymo explained that the driverless vehicle immediately detected the child's presence as soon as he began to appear from behind the stopped vehicle, then made a hard brake.
"The vehicle reduced speed from about 17 miles per hour to below 6 miles per hour before contact," Waymo wrote.
NHTSA is opening an initial evaluation to investigate whether Waymo's autonomous vehicles have exercised sufficient caution, given their location near elementary schools during the children's commute, as well as the presence of children's pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.
The agency also said it would review "the planned behavior of vehicles in and around school zones, particularly during school pick-up and drop-off times," including compliance with applicable speed limits. In addition, NHTSA will investigate Waymo's response after the collision occurred.
Waymo said its computer simulations showed that a fully alert human driver in the same situation would likely still have hit the pedestrian at a speed of about 14 miles per hour.
After the incident, the child immediately stood up, walked to the sidewalk, and Waymo immediately contacted the 911 emergency service.
"The vehicle stopped, then pulled to the side of the road, and was at the location until law enforcement allowed the vehicle to leave the scene," Waymo said.
On the same day as the incident, the National Transportation Safety Board also opened a separate investigation into Waymo, after the company's robotaxi was reported to have illegally crossed a school bus that was stopped in Austin, Texas, at least 19 times since the start of the school year.
In December, Waymo recalled more than 3,000 vehicles to update software that caused vehicles to drive past school buses that were picking up or dropping off students, increasing the risk of accidents. NHTSA itself has been investigating Waymo's incidents around school buses since October.
Waymo said there were no crashes in the Austin incidents. However, the Austin Independent School District said five violations occurred in November, even after a software update was made. The school district asked Waymo to stop operating around the school during the student's arrival and departure hours until the company could ensure the vehicle was not breaking the law.
In December, the school district told Reuters that Waymo refused to stop its operations around the school.
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