The US’s federal transportation regulator said Thursday it had opened an investigation after a Waymo self-driving vehicle struck a child near an elementary school in southern California last week, causing minor injuries. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the child in Santa Monica ran across the street on 23 January from behind a double parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo autonomous vehicle during normal school drop-off hours. According to Waymo, the child stood up and walked to the sidewalk. The US transportation regulator has also opened an investigation into how Waymo vehicles approach school buses. Multiple schools reported incidents of the autonomous vehicles failing to stop or fully slow down as children were being dropped off.