Waymo Self-Driving Vehicle Kills Dog in San Francisco

A Waymo robotaxi struck and killed a small dog in San Francisco last month while it was in self-driving mode.

According to a Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) report(Opens in a new window), a test driver was in the driver’s seat when the incident took place on May 21, but the car was operating autonomously.

The DMV report said one of Waymo’s autonomous Jaguar I-Pace cars was traveling on Toland Street, located close to Waymo’s depot, when the off-leash dog ran into the road. The report added that the vehicle sustained minor damage during the incident.

Waymo provided the following statement regarding the collision to TechCrunch(Opens in a new window):

“On May 21 in San Francisco, a small dog ran in front of one of our vehicles with an autonomous specialist present in the driver’s seat, and, unfortunately, contact was made. The investigation is ongoing, however the initial review confirmed that the system correctly identified the dog which ran out from behind a parked vehicle but was not able to avoid contact. We send our sincere condolences to the dog’s owner. The trust and safety of the communities we are in is the most important thing to us and we’re continuing to look into this on our end.”

Self-driving vehicles repeatedly hit the headlines for the incidents they cause or could potentially cause. Tesla had to recalled over 360,000 cars back in February due to a dangerous full self-driving update, and companies such as Ford are focusing on less aggressive self-driving targets which will aid drivers, but not take over full control of the vehicle.

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