{"id":"083cc71a-b93d-43cf-a7fb-65b55f0fc167","slug":"waymo-child-struck-santa-monica-jan-2026","kind":"injury","headline":"Waymo autonomous vehicle struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA and NTSB investigations","summary":"On January 23, 2026, a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, during school drop-off hours, causing minor injuries. The child ran into the street from behind a double-parked SUV. Waymo says the vehicle braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact. NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation examining the vehicle's behavior in school zones; NTSB also opened an investigation.","occurredAt":"2026-01-23T00:00:00.000Z","reviewStatus":"reviewed","modelId":null,"deploymentId":null,"companyId":"2128addc-20c8-4c31-aef5-be5ada97aede","aliases":[],"collisionRisk":"none","reviewNote":null,"severity":"serious","rootCauseCategory":"planning_perception_error","rootCauseDetail":"AV struck child who ran into roadway from behind a double-parked SUV during school drop-off; NHTSA examining whether AV exercised appropriate caution near elementary school","affectedUnitsCount":1,"affectedUnitsBasis":"exact","remediationStatus":"in_progress","regulatoryAction":"investigation","regulatoryBody":"NHTSA","propertyDamageEstimateUsd":null,"damageEstimateBasis":null,"bodilyInjurySeverity":null,"fatalityCount":null,"lossCostClass":null,"sourceQualityTier":null,"oshaRecordable":null,"oshaCaseNumber":null,"rootCauseDisclosed":null,"publicDisclosureDate":null,"insuranceClaimPublic":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:27.481Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-14T21:53:38.800Z","model":null,"deployment":null,"company":{"id":"2128addc-20c8-4c31-aef5-be5ada97aede","name":"Waymo","slug":"waymo","description":"Waymo is Alphabet's autonomous driving subsidiary. It operates the Waymo One robotaxi service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Miami, and runs Waymo Via for autonomous trucking. Spun out of Google's self-driving car project as a standalone Alphabet subsidiary in December 2016.","status":"subsidiary","founded":2009,"hq":"Mountain View, CA","fundingTotal":"27000000000","type":"both","reviewStatus":"reviewed","lifecycleState":"active","supersededByCompanyId":null,"sources":[{"url":"https://waymo.com","label":"Waymo — Company website"},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo","label":"Wikipedia — Waymo (history, operations, ownership)"}],"keyFacts":[{"label":"Valuation","value":"$126B post-money (Feb 2026 Series D)"},{"label":"Funding raised","value":"~$27B lifetime ($16B Series D, Feb 2026, largest AV round ever)"},{"label":"Weekly rides","value":"~500,000 paid/week (targeting 1M by end-2026)"},{"label":"Ride volume","value":"15M in 2025; 20M+ lifetime"},{"label":"Autonomous miles","value":"127M+ fully autonomous"},{"label":"Safety claim (Waymo)","value":"90% fewer serious-injury crashes vs. humans (company-stated)"},{"label":"Operating markets","value":"~11 US metros (Waymo One)"},{"label":"Vehicle","value":"Jaguar I-PACE, 6th-gen Waymo Driver"},{"label":"Recent recalls","value":"School-bus passing; ~3,800-vehicle San Antonio flood recall"},{"label":"Active investigations","value":"NHTSA (Santa Monica child injury); NTSB (TX school-bus)"},{"label":"wikidata","value":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15330"},{"label":"wikipedia","value":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waymo"},{"label":"Hero image candidate","value":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Waymo_self-driving_car_front_view.gk.jpg (source: Wikimedia Commons, license: CC BY-SA 4.0, Quality image)"}],"aliases":["Waymo LLC","Waymo One","Google Self-Driving Car Project"],"collisionRisk":"low","reviewNote":null,"atsProvider":"greenhouse","atsSlug":"waymo","factoryLocations":null,"manufacturingCapacity":null,"orgType":null,"burnSignal":null,"litigationEvents":null,"insurancePostureDisclosed":null,"unitEconomicsDisclosed":null,"createdAt":"2026-05-25T03:56:10.060Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-13T20:28:51.014Z"},"derived":{"status":"active"},"sources":[{"id":"dec23f92-25a4-4b23-b20a-7b63ac967a95","incidentId":"083cc71a-b93d-43cf-a7fb-65b55f0fc167","url":"https://abcnews.com/US/federal-officials-investigate-after-waymo-driving-vehicle-strikes/story?id=129670053","label":"ABC News","publishedAt":"2026-01-29T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":"ABC News","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:27.481Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:27.481Z"},{"id":"120f0d81-c30b-4e02-a6b2-f8ffccfe6d98","incidentId":"083cc71a-b93d-43cf-a7fb-65b55f0fc167","url":"https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-opens-probe-after-waymo-self-driving-vehicle-strikes-child-near-school-2026-01-29/","label":"Reuters","publishedAt":"2026-01-29T00:00:00.000Z","notes":null,"title":null,"sourceName":"Reuters","mediaType":"article","videoId":null,"channel":null,"durationSec":null,"timestampSec":null,"createdAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:27.481Z","updatedAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:27.481Z"}],"responses":[],"statusEvents":[{"id":"67fcf13c-b934-4cd4-9e33-7dce6ef866d4","incidentId":"083cc71a-b93d-43cf-a7fb-65b55f0fc167","status":"active","reason":null,"source":"agent:recon","effectiveAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:28.605Z","createdAt":"2026-07-14T02:33:28.605Z"}],"jsonLd":{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/waymo-child-struck-santa-monica-jan-2026","url":"https://registry.deploy.report/incidents/waymo-child-struck-santa-monica-jan-2026","headline":"Waymo autonomous vehicle struck a child near elementary school in Santa Monica, prompting NHTSA and NTSB investigations","description":"On January 23, 2026, a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica, California, during school drop-off hours, causing minor injuries. The child ran into the street from behind a double-parked SUV. Waymo says the vehicle braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact. NHTSA opened a preliminary evaluation examining the vehicle's behavior in school zones; NTSB also opened an investigation.","identifier":"083cc71a-b93d-43cf-a7fb-65b55f0fc167","datePublished":"2026-01-23T00:00:00.000Z","articleSection":"injury","publisher":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"},"author":{"@id":"https://deploy.report/#organization"}},"framework_metadata":{"framework_schema_version":"0.1.0","verification_status":"verified","maturity_stage":null,"lifecycle_state":null,"architectural_position":{"cohort":null,"sub_cohorts":[]},"within_cohort_verified_vs_claimed_pair":null,"cap_flags":[],"verification_depth":{"sources_count":2,"primary_source_types":["secondary-established-publication"]}}}