A father in Noe Valley says a Waymo robotaxi stopped within 13 feet of his two-year-old daughter when she fell in the crosswalk, nearly running her over, but Waymo claims the car wouldn\u2019t have hit her.<\/p>\n
Ben Fisher said he had been walking with his 2-year-old daughter Friday morning when she fell down while crossing Sanchez Street at Duncan Street in Noe Valley. As the Chronicle reports<\/a>, Fisher saw a Waymo robotaxi that had been stopped at a nearby stop sign begin moving into the intersection just as his daughter stumbled. He reportedly rushed forward with her stroller, placing himself between the car and his daughter, and the vehicle stopped about 13 feet away.<\/p>\n The girl began crying as people on nearby sidewalks shouted, and Fisher said he believed he had narrowly prevented her from being struck. Fisher told the Chronicle the car\u2019s lidar system appeared to detect him and his daughter and displayed a pedestrian-yield signal, but he did not wait to see whether it would stop before intervening.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my child could have very easily been killed,\u201d Fisher said.<\/p>\n Waymo, however, disputes that account, saying the robotaxi had already stopped before Fisher pushed the stroller in front of it and that its sensors had detected the pedestrians.<\/p>\n The incident has since generated reports to Waymo, police, and the city\u2019s 311 system. Per the Chronicle, Fisher and his wife also contacted the offices of Mayor Daniel Lurie and Supervisor Rafael Mandelman, while Fisher said a passenger in the Waymo vehicle separately reported the incident to the company.<\/p>\n Waymo said the vehicle operated safely and emphasized that it is continuing to work on communicating its movements to pedestrians and other road users.<\/p>\n As Hoodline notes<\/a>, this section of Sanchez Street, where the incident occurred, is part of San Francisco\u2019s permanent Slow Street network, which is heavily used by pedestrians and cyclists. <\/p>\n Multiple incidents with autonomous vehicles have left some SF residents uneasy with their growing presence on the street. In a particularly upsetting incident last year, a Waymo vehicle struck and killed a bodega cat<\/a> in the Mission District. Weeks later, a Waymo with passengers inside struck a small dog<\/a> that was unleashed in the Western Addition.<\/p>\n In 2023, rival robotaxi operator Cruise\u2019s driverless permits were suspended<\/a> after one of its vehicles struck and dragged a pedestrian who had been knocked into its path by a human-driven car.<\/p>\n