(KRON) -- Federal motor vehicle safety regulators have opened an investigation after a Waymo autonomous car struck and injured a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica last week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Thursday. The child, who Waymo said sustai ned minor injuries in the January 23 collision, was within two blocks of the school during normal drop off hours, according to NHTSA. “There were other children, a crossing guard, and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity,” when, according to NHTSA, “the child ran across the street from behind a double parked SUV towards the school and was struck by the Waymo AV.” In a statement from Waymo, the Mountain View-based company said that its technology immediately detected the child as soon as they emerged from behind the SUV. The driverless car “braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made,” Waymo wrote. Waymo asserted that a “fully attentive human driver” in the same scenario would have only been able to reduce speed to approximately 14 mph before impact with the child. Following the crash, Waymo said the child was able to stand and walk to the sidewalk while the company called emergency services. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened a preliminary evaluation to determine “whether the Waymo AV exercised appropriate caution given, among other things, its proximity to the elementary school during drop off hours, and the presence of young pedestrians and other potential vulnerable road users,” the agency wrote. Safety regulators will also probe Waymo's response after the collision. ...read more read less