LOS ANGELES — A Waymo self-driving taxi struck a child near a Santa Monica elementary school during drop-off hours, triggering an investigation into the incident by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The child sustained minor injuries, Waymo said. There were other children, a crossing guard and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity when the accident occurred last Friday, according to NHTSA.

The investigation said the child was running across the street towards the school when they were hit. A Waymo statement said the child appeared from behind a large SUV.

"The event occurred when the pedestrian suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle's path," Waymo said. "The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made."

Waymo reported the incident to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and said it would fully cooperate. The Waymo involved was operating on the company's 5th generation automated driving system without a safety driver.

After being struck, the pedestrian stood up and walked to the sidewalk, where witnesses called 911, Waymo said. The company said the incident demonstrated the safety benefits of Waymo.

"Our peer-reviewed model shows that a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph," the statement said. "This significant reduction in impact speed and severity is a demonstration of the material safety benefit of the Waymo Driver."

Late last year, the Alphabet-owned company came under fire for running over and killing KitKat, a beloved neighborhood cat in San Francisco. Weeks later, another Waymo hit an unleashed dog in the same city.

Video evidence shows that KitKat lingered under the vehicle for several seconds before it pulled away, crushing him. A woman was crouched beside the car, trying to lure KitKat to safety. A human driver would have easily noticed that something wasn't right, critics said.

Waymo has been the subject of several NHTSA investigations and recalls, including a recall of more than 1,200 vehicles last year due to a software defect that led to a series of minor crashes.

Waymo launched its services in Los Angeles in 2024 and covers more than 120 square miles of the county, not including LAX. Customers can hail rides from Venice to downtown Los Angeles and Echo Park, among other neighborhoods. The vehicles are being tested and gradually rolled out on Los Angeles freeways, the company said last year.

The company got its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, which began in 2009 and put its first autonomous car on the road in 2015. The project rebranded as Waymo in 2016 under Google's parent company Alphabet and launched its driverless ride-hailing service known as Waymo One in 2020.

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