Waymo Faces New Federal Probe After Robotaxi Hits Child Near School

New updates have been reported about Waymo.

Waymo is under renewed federal scrutiny after one of its autonomous robotaxis struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica on January 23, an incident that adds regulatory and reputational pressure at a critical stage of its commercial rollout. The company reported to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that the child, whose identity has not been disclosed, suffered minor injuries. Waymo says the vehicle was traveling about 17 miles per hour, braked sharply, and made contact at roughly 6 miles per hour after the child moved into the roadway from behind a tall SUV during morning school drop-off. The vehicle detected the pedestrian as they emerged, stopped, called 911, and remained on scene until cleared by law enforcement. The NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has opened a new probe to determine whether the autonomous system exercised appropriate caution in a high‑risk environment that included other children, a crossing guard, and double‑parked vehicles near the school.

This accident compounds existing regulatory challenges for Waymo, which is already the subject of dual investigations into its robotaxis allegedly failing to obey school bus stop rules in multiple cities. The NHTSA launched a probe in October following an incident in Atlanta, and the National Transportation Safety Board recently opened its own investigation after roughly 20 similar reports in Austin, signaling growing federal concern about the behavior of Waymo vehicles around vulnerable road users and in school zones. Waymo has stated that it will fully cooperate with the new NHTSA investigation and has highlighted an internal, peer‑reviewed model suggesting that a fully attentive human driver would have hit the child at about 14 miles per hour in the same scenario, implying a relative safety benefit from its system. Nonetheless, the concentration of school‑related incidents raises strategic risks: potential operating restrictions in key markets, stricter safety requirements, slower regulatory approvals, and increased public skepticism, all of which could affect the pace and economics of Waymo’s autonomous fleet deployment and its path to scalable commercial viability.