Waymo Gave Safety Regulators Its Crash Report — But Blacked Out the Answers

Waymo has finished handing over documents to the federal government as part of an investigation into a January 23 crash in which one of the company's self-driving taxis hit a 9-year-old girl at low speed in Santa Monica, California. An initial batch of Waymo's documents was posted to the government's website on Friday, August 21, 2026, after TechCrunch asked about them earlier in the week. The documents available at the time of publication were entirely blacked out, with Waymo citing confidential business information. TechCrunch

The crash involved a Waymo Jaguar I-Pace self-driving taxi driving near a school. According to a preliminary report from March by the NTSB (an independent government agency that investigates transportation accidents), the vehicle was traveling at 17 miles per hour but braked and slowed to six miles per hour before hitting the child near its front-right headlight. The girl fell, then walked to the curb and reported minor injuries. She did not need an ambulance. NTSB

NHTSA, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, announced its investigation one week after the incident. This probe is separate from the NTSB's own investigation. The NTSB typically produces a final, more detailed report after about 12 months.

The information request NHTSA sent to Waymo was extensive. The agency submitted 12 questions, some with sub-questions, on March 23. They covered how Waymo sets speed limits in school zones, whether the company had received complaints about how its self-driving taxis behave around schools, and documentation about Waymo's software. The probe also looks at what NHTSA calls the "intended behavior" of Waymo's driverless vehicles in school zones and nearby areas. CNBC

Waymo's initial deadline to respond was May 8. On May 1, Matthew Schwall, Waymo's senior director of safety, wrote to NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation asking for more time. In the letter, Schwall said that "the mutual goal is for Waymo to provide relevant information that facilitates ODI's investigation while avoiding extraordinary production and review burdens." Waymo also asked the agency to clarify some of its questions in the same letter.

NHTSA gave Waymo extra time to answer 10 of its 12 questions. Waymo provided partial responses in a second letter dated July 8, and the company told TechCrunch on Thursday, August 20, that it has now completed its submissions. Waymo first publicly acknowledged the investigation in a January 28 blog post titled "A commitment to transparency and road safety," in which it said that NHTSA indicated it intended to open an investigation and that Waymo would cooperate fully. Waymo

The full blacking-out of the released documents limits what outside observers can learn about Waymo's responses. The company says the withheld information is confidential business material, covering its software documentation, how it determines school-zone speed limits, and how it handles complaints. NHTSA's website hosts the document set, but what the public can actually see consists of cover letters and basic file information rather than the real answers themselves.

There is a tension worth noting here. Waymo has publicly emphasized transparency, yet the documents most relevant to public safety questions are, at least in this initial release, unreadable in their substance. This is not unusual in NHTSA investigations; car companies routinely ask to keep engineering and software details confidential to protect competitive information. But the situation is particularly pointed here because the questions concern vehicle behavior in school zones, where public interest in the details is especially strong.

The two-track regulatory process also matters. NHTSA's investigation can lead to recalls or other enforcement actions, while the NTSB produces findings and recommendations but cannot enforce them. The NTSB's final report, expected about a year after the incident, will likely provide the most detailed public account of what happened, including how the vehicle perceived its surroundings and made decisions. Until then, the NHTSA investigation proceeds with most of its evidence hidden from public view.

NHTSA's broader rules require self-driving vehicle operators to report any physical contact that results or allegedly results in property damage, injury, or death under what is called a Standing General Order, with crash-report data currently shown through July 15, 2026. NHTSA Waymo also notes on its Safety Impact page that it is subject to these reporting requirements. Waymo

The January 23 crash occurred at low speed and resulted in minor injuries, and the vehicle did brake before impact. The questions NHTSA is asking, however, go beyond this single incident to broader concerns about how self-driving vehicles are designed to operate around unpredictable pedestrians, particularly children near schools. The answers Waymo has provided to those questions exist, but the public cannot yet read them.