DEPLOYDatabase

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 · Collision · Retracted

NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school

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

On January 23, 2026, a driverless Waymo vehicle operating on its 5th Generation ADS struck a child who ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV during school drop-off hours near a Santa Monica, CA elementary school. The child sustained minor injuries. NHTSA opened Preliminary Evaluation PE26001 on January 28, 2026, to assess whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution near the school during drop-off hours. No safety operator was in the vehicle.

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 NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school

Machine-readable surfaces

Sources (2)

  1. NHTSA ODI Resume - PE26001 · https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/inv/2026/INOA-PE26001-10005.pdf · 2026-01-28
  2. CNBC · https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/29/waymo-nhtsa-crash-child-school.html · 2026-01-29

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 · 2026-07-17 · agent:recon

Common questions

What happened in NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school?
On January 23, 2026, a driverless Waymo vehicle operating on its 5th Generation ADS struck a child who ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV during school drop-off hours near a Santa Monica, CA elementary school. The child sustained minor injuries. NHTSA opened Preliminary Evaluation PE26001 on January 28, 2026, to assess whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution near the school during drop-off hours. No safety operator was in the vehicle. 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 NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school?
Waymo Driver (6th gen) by Waymo is the recorded robot involved in this incident at Sacramento, California, USA.
Has anyone responded to NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school?
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 NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school?
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 · 2 sources (1 primary) · last reviewed 2026-08-09

Verification posture

Verified

High confidence

Review state

Stable

Last reviewed 2026-08-09

Sources by quality tier

1
primary-regulatory-filing
Regulatory filing
1
secondary-established-publication
Established publication

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

Methodology surface for NHTSA opens preliminary evaluation PE26001 after Waymo robotaxi struck a child near Santa Monica elementary school.

Deploy Watch

Track this incident.

We notify you when the regulator updates the record, the remedy status changes, or a related incident surfaces.

Canonical ID 7d4292ee-2894-421d-a2e5-b0bf624bcc27