Santa Monica police Thursday continued investigating a crash involving a Waymo driverless vehicle and a student on his way to school.
The collision occurred about 7:40 a.m. Friday near 24th and Pearl streets, according to Santa Monica Police Department spokesman Lt. Lewis Gilmour.
The location is adjacent to Grant Elementary School, he said.
“Preliminary information indicates the student entered the roadway outside the available crosswalk and away from the on-duty crossing guard, and was involved in a low speed, non-injury collision with the vehicle,” Gilmour said.
Santa Monica Fire Department personnel responded and evaluated the student, who was with his parents, and found them to be unharmed.
“Officers conducted an on-scene investigation, and the incident remains under review,” Gilmour said.
In a blog post, Waymo stated that the robotaxi “performed exactly as planned.”
“The event occurred when the pedestrian suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle’s path,” the post said, adding that the technology detected the child as soon as he emerged from behind the stopped vehicle.
Waymo said the vehicle slowed from 17 mph to under 6 mph before contacting the child, and modeling showed a human driver would likely have struck the student at about 14 mph.
The crash occurred the same day a Los Angeles Fire Department rescue ambulance transporting a patient to a hospital collided with a food delivery robot near Western and Fountain avenues in Hollywood.
No one was injured in that collision, and the patient, whose condition was not considered critical, was transferred to a second ambulance and taken to a hospital.