SANTA MONICA—On January 29, WAYMO issued a press release regarding an incident where an autonomous vehicle stuck a child. It happened on January 23 at approximately 7:40 a.m. during parent drop off near Grant Elementary School which is located at 2368 Pearl St.
According to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) WAYMO voluntarily contacted the family of the child and is going to be in full cooperation with authorities investigating the incident.
WAYMO reported that the pedestrian came out from behind a large SUV and stepped out into the roadway directly into the path of the autonomous vehicle. The vehicle was traveling at a speed of approximately 17 m.p.h. when it braked, reducing its speed down to 6 m.p.h. when the child was hit.
Following the accident the child stood up immediately and walked to the sidewalk. WAYMO called 911. The vehicle stayed at the scene until police arrived and cleared it to leave.
On its website, WAYMO claims that another vehicle with a human driver would not have been able to reduce its speed down to that low of a speed, and would have hit the person at 14 m.p.h.
The Office of Defects Investigations (ODI) indicated that the investigation will most likely result in an upgrade to autonomous vehicle’s ability to detect both school zones and hours of reduced speed zones.
The child was not injured. The parent of the child was nearby. The child was not on the sidewalk with the on-duty school crossing guard.
