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Retracted · 2026-07-24

Duplicate ingestion of the same event as waymo-child-struck-santa-monica-jan-2026, the canonical record for "Waymo Santa Monica child-struck (Jan 2026)". This duplicate is retracted to suppress it from aggregates; its own URL stays index,follow per the retraction fairness policy.

Incident · Injury · Retracted

Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation

Original claim shown above is no longer asserted. See the retraction notice for context.

A Waymo autonomous vehicle struck a child who ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California. The vehicle braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before impact, but the child sustained minor injuries. NHTSA opened an investigation into the incident.

Occurred 2026-01-23 · Waymo Driver (6th gen) at Sacramento, California, USA · Waymo · Sacramento, California, USA · Robotaxis

How to read this record

Incident records on DEPLOY are compiled from public sources (regulatory filings, news reports, and operator disclosures) and reflect what has been reported and tracked to date. They are not legal findings, determinations of fault, or safety ratings, and may be updated as new information is verified. See the sources below for the underlying references.
Track Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation

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Sources (1)

  1. https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/waymo-nhtsa-crash-child-school.html

Status history

  • Retracted · 2026-07-24

    Duplicate ingestion of the same event as waymo-child-struck-santa-monica-jan-2026, the canonical record for "Waymo Santa Monica child-struck (Jan 2026)". This duplicate is retracted to suppress it from aggregates; its own URL stays index,follow per the retraction fairness policy.

  • Active · 2026-07-06 · agent:depth

Common questions

What happened in Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation?
A Waymo autonomous vehicle struck a child who ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California. The vehicle braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before impact, but the child sustained minor injuries. NHTSA opened an investigation into the incident. This incident was later retracted; see the retraction banner at the top of the page for the correction.
When did this incident occur?
The incident is recorded as occurring on January 23, 2026 on the DEPLOY registry. The date reflects the underlying real-world event, not the registry record's creation date.
What robot was involved in Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation?
Waymo Driver (6th gen) by Waymo is the recorded robot involved in this incident at Sacramento, California, USA.
Has anyone responded to Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation?
No responses to this incident are recorded on the DEPLOY registry. Operators, manufacturers, or affected parties can submit responses to the editorial team; absence is not a guarantee no response was issued.
What is the current status of Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation?
This incident is retracted on the DEPLOY registry. The page remains so the correction reaches readers, but the incident is suppressed from aggregate counts (company / model / location) so it no longer counts against anyone.
Methodology: Verified · 1 source (no primary) · last reviewed 2026-07-14

Verification posture

Verified

Medium confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-07-14

Sources by quality tier

1
secondary-established-publication
Established publication

The framework is documented at /methodology. Corrections at /corrections. Reviewer: DEPLOY editorial team.

Methodology surface for Waymo robotaxi struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA investigation.

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Canonical ID 00cd02e7-034c-4bf0-8a20-9d5c71225648