Waymo vehicles appear to be blocking intersections during power outage in San Francisco
Waymo has temporarily suspended its service due to widespread power outages in the San Francisco Bay Area.
- Federal regulators are investigating after a Waymo self-driving car hit a child in a school district.
- A child suffered minor injuries in the crash near an elementary school in Santa Monica.
- The investigation will examine vehicle behavior within school zones and compliance with speed limits.
Federal regulators are investigating the safety of self-driving cars operated by Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving car subsidiary, after one of the cars crashed into a child near an elementary school.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a document posted on its website on Jan. 29 that its Office of Defect Investigations (ODI) began a preliminary investigation into self-driving cars after the company reported a Jan. 23 crash involving a vehicle that hit a child “within two blocks of an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, during normal school hours.”
According to NHTSA, other children, a railroad crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles were also near the accident scene. A child who was hit by a Waymo self-driving car ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV toward school. Waymo reported the child suffered minor injuries, according to NHTSA. The agency also said there was no safety driver in the vehicle.
What are regulators looking for in the Waymo investigation?
NHTSA said its Office of Defects has opened a new investigation “to examine whether reasonable care was taken given the Waymo AV’s proximity to an elementary school during school hours and the presence of young pedestrians and other potentially vulnerable road users.”
The ODI office said it expects the investigation to examine “the intended operation (including, but not limited to, compliance with posted speed limits) within the school district and adjacent areas, particularly during normal school pick-up and drop-off hours.” ODI said it would also investigate Waymo’s response after the incident.
Waymo said in a statement that it is “committed to improving road safety for both our riders and everyone who shares our roads.” The company said it voluntarily contacted the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the day of the accident and plans to cooperate with the federal investigation.
Are Waymo’s self-driving cars safe?
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration classifies autonomous driving into six levels.
Waymo is classified as a Level 4 vehicle on NHTSA’s six-level autonomy scale, which is considered a highly autonomous vehicle. The agency says of the Level 4 system: “Once activated, the system handles all driving tasks and you, the passenger, do not need to operate the vehicle. The system can only operate the vehicle in a limited service area and is not universal. A human driver is not required to operate the vehicle.”
NHTSA notes that while cars equipped with Level 4 technology are not available for purchase by consumers, they are being used by ride-hailing services in several U.S. cities.
The agency previously began a preliminary evaluation of Waymo’s self-driving cars in May 2024 after reports of Waymo vehicles colliding with objects such as gates, chains and parked cars. The agency also cited instances in which the company’s self-driving systems appeared to disobey traffic control devices. The investigation was subsequently closed by regulators in July 2025.
What do safety groups say about Waymo’s safety record?
“Waymo has also struggled to correct recent safety deficiencies with school buses and continues to ignore local requests to stop operating in the presence of school buses,” said Michael Brooks, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Auto Safety, which advocates for stricter vehicle regulations.
“A child running into the path of a car presents a very dangerous scenario that requires immediate attention from the oncoming driver, whether human or computer,” Brooks said.
Brooks said he believes it is important for NHTSA to investigate the incident to “determine whether there were any cues that the human driver could have used to avoid the collision that the Waymo vehicle may have missed.”
“If AV companies continue to resist state and local governance, additional enforcement and oversight by the federal government will be needed to promote safe autonomous operation,” he said.
