"Our thoughts go out to the family at this incredibly difficult time."
The identity of the little boy was still not released yesterday. Police said they would release his name once next of kin have been advised.
Police are investigating the incident and providing support for the family.
The death follows a 2-year-old boy being hit and killed by a vehicle in a driveway in Papakura, Auckland, last month.
New Zealand has one of the worst rates of children being killed by cars in driveways, with an average of five a year.
Every two weeks a child is hospitalised with serious injuries caused by a driveway-related accident, according to Safekids director Ann Weaver.
There have been 24 child deaths as a result of driveway accidents since 2007.
Summer was the peak season, for driveway deaths, with more front doors left open, and more children playing outside, Ms Weaver has said.
Parents often forgot about the dangers of their children playing around driveways as they had been inside all winter, she said.
Awareness campaigns had halved the number of driveway deaths in recent years, but as soon as the campaigns stopped the numbers came back up.
The most common victims were toddlers aged 1 to 3.
