A Waymo self-driving taxi recently struck a child near a Santa Monica elementary school during drop-off hours, triggering an investigation into the incident by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The child sustained minor injuries, Waymo said. After being struck, the child stood up and walked to the sidewalk, where witnesses called 911.

Santa Monica Police said officers responded to the Jan. 23 incident near 24th and Pearl streets, close to Grant Elementary School. After being evaluated by responders from the fire department, the child was released.

The investigation said the child was running across the street toward the school when they were hit. Waymo said the child appeared from behind a large SUV.

“The event occurred when the pedestrian suddenly entered the roadway from behind a tall SUV, moving directly into our vehicle’s path,” Waymo said in a statement. “The Waymo Driver braked hard, reducing speed from approximately 17 mph to under 6 mph before contact was made.”

There were other children, a crossing guard and several double-parked vehicles in the vicinity when the accident occurred, according to NHTSA.

Waymo reported the incident to the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation and said it would fully cooperate. The Waymo involved was operating on the company’s fifth-generation automated driving system without a safety driver.

The company said the incident demonstrated the safety benefits of Waymo.

“Our peer-reviewed model shows that a fully attentive human driver in this same situation would have made contact with the pedestrian at approximately 14 mph,” the statement said. “This significant reduction in impact speed and severity is a demonstration of the material safety benefit of the Waymo Driver.”

A spokesperson for the city of Santa Monica referred questions to police.

Santa Monica sued Waymo in December after it ordered the company to cease overnight operations of two charging stations for the autonomous vehicles. Waymo in turn sued the city, alleging that city officials were aware the charging facilities would be operating 24 hours a day and maintain a commercial electric vehicle fleet.

The Alphabet-owned company also came under fire late last year for running over and killing KitKat, a beloved neighborhood cat in San Francisco. Weeks later another Waymo hit an unleashed dog in the city.

Video evidence shows that KitKat lingered under the vehicle for several seconds before it pulled away, crushing him. A woman was crouched beside the car, trying to lure KitKat to safety. A human driver easily would have noticed something wasn’t right, critics said.

Waymo has been the subject of several NHTSA investigations and recalls, including a recall of more than 1,200 vehicles last year because of a software defect that led to a series of minor crashes.

Waymo launched its services in Los Angeles in 2024 and covers more than 120 square miles of the county, not including Los Angeles International Airport. The company got its start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, which began in 2009 and put its first autonomous car on the road in 2015. The project rebranded as Waymo in 2016 under Google’s parent company and launched its driverless ride-hailing service known as Waymo One in 2020.

The parent company of Johnny Rockets, Fatburger and Round Table Pizza filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Beverly Hills-based Fat Brands Inc. said in a statement that it filed for bankruptcy on Monday to restructure the debt it accumulated while expanding its company portfolio, citing “difficult and largely unforeseen” market conditions.

The company’s portfolio includes several brands with roots in the Southland. It owns retro diner chain Johnny Rockets, founded in 1986 on Los Angeles’ Melrose Avenue; shopping mall staple Hot Dog on a Stick, founded in 1964 in Santa Monica; and hamburger chain Fatburger, founded in 1947 in Los Angeles’ Exposition Park neighborhood.

Fat Brands also has investments in two brands that got their start in the Bay Area: pizza chain Round Table Pizza, founded in 1959 in Menlo Park, and fast-casual chain Yalla Mediterranean, founded in 2014 in Pleasant Hill.

The company has accumulated more than $1 billion in debt, according to its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

“Our dynamic portfolio of brands has demonstrated tremendous resilience in a challenging restaurant operating environment over the last few years,” Fat Brands Chief Executive Andy Wiederhorn said in a statement.

Chapter 11 protection will give the company an opportunity to “strengthen our capital structure to support our concepts,” he said.

Fat Brands has a portfolio of 18 restaurant concepts with more than 2,200 locations worldwide, according to the company’s November SEC filing. More than 90% of its locations are franchised.

Its shares have fallen more than 85% over the last three months. It received a delisting notice from Nasdaq market earlier this month.

Company spokesperson Erin Mandzik said in an email that the company’s restaurants are expected to remain operating as usual throughout the reorganization process.

The Times reported in 2022 that Wiederhorn, Fat Brands’ founder, was investigated for alleged tax fraud. Charges were dismissed in July, but a federal judge ordered the U.S. Department of Justice to explain its decision, as reported by the Los Angeles Business Journal.

After a competitive bidding process, indie studio A24 has acquired the U.S. rights to Olivia Wilde’s comedy “The Invite” in a major deal out of the Sundance Film Festival.

The film, which stars Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, was purchased for around $10 million, according to a person familiar with the deal who requested anonymity due to the sensitive matter. One factor for Wilde was a preference for a traditional theatrical release.

“The Invite” focuses on a dinner party among neighbors and was billed as a must-see after it premiered over the weekend at Sundance. So far, the film has notched a 91% rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

The market at Sundance has traditionally been viewed as a bellwether for the indie film business. In the last few years, deals have been slower to emerge from the festival, particularly as streamers stopped offering massive sums for films to stock their platforms and as studios cut back on spending.

The deal for “The Invite” is one of a handful that have already been announced. On Tuesday, Neon said it acquired the worldwide rights to horror film “Leviticus,” which premiered at Sundance. Neon also bought the worldwide rights over the weekend for another horror flick, “4 X 4: The Event” from filmmaker Alex Ullom. That deal was the first to be made in Park City, though the film was not shown at Sundance and will begin production later this year. The value for both of Neon’s deals was not disclosed.