By Shawn Henry 
Federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into a Waymo autonomous vehicle after it struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica during morning drop-off hours earlier this year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has launched a preliminary review of the incident, which occurred on January 23, 2026, amid routine school traffic conditions. The crash took place during a period typically marked by increased pedestrian activity, congested curbside areas, and vehicles stopping temporarily to unload students.
According to information released by federal investigators, the child ran into the roadway from behind a double-parked SUV and entered the path of the driverless vehicle. The Waymo vehicle made contact with the child, who suffered minor injuries. Officials reported the child was able to stand and walk to the sidewalk following the collision.
Waymo stated that its autonomous system detected the child as soon as movement began from behind the parked SUV. The vehicle applied hard braking and reduced its speed significantly before impact, reaching approximately 6 miles per hour at the moment of contact. The company maintains that internal modeling indicates a fully attentive human driver might have struck the child at more than twice that speed under similar conditions.
After the collision, the vehicle came to a stop, pulled over, and contacted emergency services, according to the company.
School zones are among the most complex and unpredictable driving environments, combining children, parents, crossing guards, and frequently obstructed sightlines. Regulators are now examining whether Waymo’s system behavior in these conditions meets safety expectations. The investigation will focus on how the autonomous driving software is designed to operate near schools, including its speed selection, caution thresholds, and post-incident response.
The review also follows previous scrutiny of Waymo vehicles related to interactions with school buses in other states, adding context to the agency’s interest in how autonomous vehicles handle child-heavy traffic environments.
As autonomous driving services expand and additional robotaxi programs enter public roads, incidents like this underscore the challenges of translating safety claims into real-world performance. Regulators are increasingly evaluating not just overall safety statistics, but how these systems perform in the most unpredictable, human-centered situations on public streets.