Waymo struggles to shake off the accusation that its technology is a danger to children during school hours. By Stewart Burnett
Waymo’s school bus related woes continue, with reports that one of its robotaxis struck a child near an elementary school during normal drop-off hours, causing minor injuries. The incident took place in Santa Monica, California on 23 January, prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to open an investigation into the incident.
The collision occurred within two blocks of the school during normal drop-off hours with other children, a crossing guard and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity. Previous incidents involved Waymo robotaxis illegally passing stopped school buses; at least 19 are known to have taken place in Austin, Texas since the start of the school year, with an additional six incidents in Atlanta, Georgia also reported.
Waymo has issued a statement on the incident, claiming the child “suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly in our vehicle’s path” and that its system “immediately detected” the pedestrian. The robotaxi then braked hard from 17 mph to under 6 mph before colliding with the child.
Following impact, Waymo said the child stood up immediately and walked to the sidewalk, and the company called emergency services. The vehicle moved aside to await law enforcement clearance. Waymo—no stranger to federal investigation—voluntarily contacted NHTSA the same day and asserted that its simulation model showed a “fully attentive human driver” would have struck the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph, appreciably faster than the robotaxi’s reported speed.
Now it’s over to NHTSA to determine whether Waymo, in the agency’s words, “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”. NHTSA also noted the presence of “other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity”, arguably cues that a human driver would have taken to exercise particular caution.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation plans to examine the intended behaviour of Waymo’s automated driving system in school zones during normal pick-up and drop-off times, including its adherence to posted speed limits. The agency will also review the company’s post-impact response procedures.
The Santa Monica incident adds to a growing amount of regulatory pressure on Waymo following separate investigations into its robotaxis illegally passing stopped school buses with extended stop arms and flashing warning lights. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) launched a probe last week to investigate the incidents reported in Austin, Texas. In at least one case, a Waymo drove past students actively disembarking from the bus.
It should be noted that NTSB has little to no enforcement power, but its recommendations generally form the basis of future policy. NHTSA opened a separate probe based on the Austin reports back in October.
Waymo has repeatedly tried to correct the issue via over-the-air update, issuing a patch in November and a full voluntary software recall the following month. According to Waymo, all affected vehicles received the November patch before the official recall. However, Austin Independent School District has continued to report issues in the weeks that followed.
The district demanded Waymo cease operations during school bus loading and unloading hours until safety concerns could be adequately addressed; Waymo has rejected this demand repeatedly. In response to the NTSB probe, Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Peña told TechCrunch that no actual collisions have taken place involving school buses, and said he was “confident that our safety performance around school buses is superior to human drivers”.
A separate incident occurred 25 January in Los Angeles where a Waymo vehicle being operated in manual mode by a human specialist sped through a one-way residential street near Dodger Stadium and struck several parked cars including one with an occupant, though no injuries were reported.