Self-driving car hits and kills small dog in San Francisco

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- A Waymo vehicle hit and killed a small dog on the streets of San Francisco last month, the company confirmed to Nexstar's KRON. The incident occurred on Sunday, May 21, when the dog ran in front of a Waymo vehicle with an "autonomous specialist" in the driver's seat, according to a company spokesperson.

The spokesperson said an investigation had been launched and that an initial review indicated that the Waymo's system correctly identified the dog, which ran from behind a parked vehicle. However, the vehicle was unable to avoid hitting the animal.

The dog was hit and subsequently died.

"We send our sincere condolences to the dog's owner," the spokesperson said. "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."

The dog was off-leash when it was struck by the Waymo vehicle.

KRON reached out to the San Francisco Police Department regarding the incident and was told that officers responded to the incident, but did not locate anything.