AIBRIEF
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration posted Waymo's responses to its January probe, but every page cites confidential business information.
The January 23 Santa Monica crash involved a Jaguar I-Pace robotaxi that struck a 9-year-old girl near a school at 17 mph, braking to 6 mph before contact near the front-right headlight assembly. The child walked to the curb with minor injuries and did not need medical transport, according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report released in March.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened its own probe a week after the crash. On March 23, regulators sent Waymo 12 questions, some with sub-questions, covering school-zone speed-limit determination, complaint history about robotaxi behavior near schools, and software documentation, TechCrunch reported. Waymo's original May 8 deadline was extended after a May 1 letter from Matthew Schwall, the company's senior director of safety.
Waymo handed over its responses on Friday, August 21. Every page posted to NHTSA's investigation file is redacted, citing "confidential business information." NHTSA says it is reviewing other responses and will publish them upon completion.
A separate NTSB investigation is also underway; final reports typically land about 12 months after the incident. For now, the public can read the questions Waymo faced, but not the answers.