Incident·WS-0073·Jan 23, 2026·disclosed Jan 29, 2026 (6 days later)·in the wild·Robotaxis & physical AI
Waymo robotaxi strikes child near elementary school
40/100
WS-3 SeriousHarm score 35, signal score 46. Autonomy: acted (the AI took a bounded action). How the scores work.
Harm 2/5
damage actually done
Reach 1/5
who was affected
Autonomy 2/4
how much the AI did on its own
Novelty 2/5
how new the behavior was
Permanence 2/5
how hard it is to undo
A Waymo robotaxi struck a child who stepped out from behind a parked SUV near an elementary school, causing minor injuries. NHTSA opened an investigation.
Damage
1 child, minor injuries
The capability behind it
- Waymo passes 10 million paid driverless rides, 250,000 a weekMay 20, 2025 · Waymo (Alphabet) · reliable for a defined task: yes
Sources
Reuters, second source. Evidence confidence: medium. The primary articles could not be fetched; the facts come from Wikipedia's summary of the Reuters and CNBC reports. City and speed were not verified.
Factor ratings and the score are this index’s judgments by a published formula; facts, dates and figures come from the linked sources. Where a lawsuit is pending, the summary reports allegations, not findings.
