Waymo set to defend self-driving safety record after vehicle hit child near school

Google-sister company Waymo has said that it will defend its safety record before the US Senate Commerce Committee. The comment came soon after federal agencies opened investigations into a vehicle striking a child near an elementary school and incidents involving robotaxis driving past were loading or unloading parked school buses.According to a report by news agency Reuters, the Alphabet-unit and self-driving company said in a written testimony that its self-driving vehicles have “been involved in 10 times fewer serious injury or worse crashes” compared to human drivers covering the same mileage in the same conditions and said its safety efforts were recently the subject of an independent audit.Waymo also called on Congress to pass legislation to advance self-driving vehicles arguing US leadership “in the autonomous vehicle sector is now under direct threat. The United States is locked in a global race with Chinese AV companies for the future of autonomous driving, a trillion-dollar industry comparable in strategic importance to flight and space travel.”Waymo informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that one of its driverless vehicles “struck a child near an elementary school” in Santa Monica, California, on January 23. According to records posted to the NHTSA website, the child sustained minor injuries.“The child ran across the street from behind a double-parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo AV,” NHTSA said in a document describing the incident.“Our technology immediately detected the individual as soon as they began to emerge from behind the stopped vehicle. The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made,” Waymo said in a statement on their blog.“This significant reduction in impact speed and severity is a demonstration of the material safety benefit of the Waymo Driver,” the company said.