Alphabet -owned Waymo has informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that one of its driverless vehicles "struck a child near an elementary school" in Santa Monica, California
The Jan. 23 incident is now being investigated by the U.S. vehicle safety authority.
According to records posted to the NHTSA website, the child sustained minor injuries.
The Waymo collision occurred within two blocks of an elementary school during normal school drop-off hours, while other children, a crossing guard and several double-parked vehicles were nearby.
"The child ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo AV," NHTSA said in a document describing the incident that necessitated their "preliminary evaluation."
The vehicle was running on Waymo's 5th Generation Automated Driving System with no human safety supervisor in the vehicle.
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigations plans to assess "whether the Waymo AV 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."
The agency's investigation will include analysis of the "intended behavior" of Waymo's driverless vehicles in school zones and neighboring areas, especially during normal school pick-up and drop-off times, as well as the company's post-impact response.
"Our technology immediately detected the individual as soon as they began to emerge from behind the stopped vehicle. The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made," Waymo said in a statement on their blog.
The company wrote that a fully attentive human driver in the same situation would have likely "made contact with the pedestrian" at a higher speed of 14 miles per hour.
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