Commercial robot incidents, Q3 2023
Q3 2023: 9 documented incidents involving commercial robots (+80% on the quarter before), 4 with a person hurt and 1 fatal. 2 reached a regulator, a recall or a court. Most involved Cruise (3). Largest class: autonomous vehicle (3).
Incidents are counted by the date they happened, 2023-07-01 to 2023-09-30. 0 cases were published to the register during the quarter, including older events documented for the first time. Counts measure what was reported in English and cleared verification; fleet sizes are not public, so nothing here is a rate. Rules on the methodology page. Previous quarter for comparison: Q2 2023.
By kind of machine
- Autonomous vehicle3
- Delivery3
- Agricultural1
- Consumer1
- Surgical1
By company
- Cruise3
- Starship Technologies2
- Asensus Surgical1
By outcome
- no harm3
- minor injury2
- fatality1
- property damage1
- serious injury1
The cases that reached furthest
Ordered by severity, then by how many independent sources the case rests on.
- 2023-08-14Two Cruise autonomous vehicles stopped in traffic lanes on August 14, 2023 in San Francisco, allegedly delaying an ambulance transporting a pedestrian with life-threatening injuries who later died at the hospital, though Cruise disputes that its vehicles impeded the ambulance.Report
- 2023-07-20A worker at Highline Mushrooms' Kingsville plant was critically injured after becoming entangled in netting on a net washer machine's rotating bar, resulting in a $143,750 fine against Highline Produce Limited.Report
- 2023-08-17A Cruise self-driving robotaxi was struck by a San Francisco Fire Department truck en route to an emergency at the intersection of Polk and Turk Streets in the Tenderloin district, resulting in one passenger being transported to a hospital with non-severe injuries.Regulator action
- 2023-09-19A Starship delivery robot at Arizona State University abruptly changed direction, knocked over a university employee, and then reversed toward the victim while she was still on the ground, injuring her.Follow-up
- 2023-08-07A driverless Cruise autonomous vehicle was struck by a semi-truck performing a left turn from the right lane near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, sustaining damage to its passenger-side mirror, a camera, and a tire, with no passengers in the vehicle and no injuries reported.Report
- 2023-09-17Firefighters moved delivery robots out of the way while tackling a building fire in Cambridge.Report
Whose incidents reach consequences
Share of a company's recorded incidents, across the whole register, that reached a regulator, a recall or a court. Companies with fewer than the threshold of cases are left out. Register total: 280 cases, 39 escalated.
- Zoox5/9 · 56%
- Cruise3/10 · 30%
- Tesla2/15 · 13%
- Starship Technologies1/9 · 11%
- Waymo5/69 · 7%
- Unitree Robotics0/11 · 0%
What the operators wrote in their own crash reports
1437 crash reports filed with NHTSA by 17 operators under the Standing General Order, read by theme. The federal file has one structured column for what was struck; these counts exist nowhere else.
- Emergency responders on scene, most often Waymo LLC128
- Stopped or blocking traffic, most often Waymo LLC124
- A pedestrian involved, most often Waymo LLC59
- A cyclist or scooter rider, most often Waymo LLC41
- Rear-ended by another vehicle, most often Zoox, Inc.36
- Roadworks, cones or a closure, most often Waymo LLC24
All 9 incidents dated Q3 2023
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it rests on. Case metadata is CC BY 4.0; cite the register by its DOI, 10.5281/zenodo.22925531.
- 2023-09-19A Starship delivery robot at Arizona State University abruptly changed direction, knocked over a university employee, and then reversed toward the victim while she was still on the ground, injuring her.Follow-up
- 2023-09-17Firefighters moved delivery robots out of the way while tackling a building fire in Cambridge.Report
- 2023-09-16Co-op delivery robots in Cambridge became confused by fire hoses and fire engines blocking the road during a derelict building fire and had to be carried over the obstructions by Cambridgeshire firefighters.Report
- 2023-09-15Asensus Surgical issued a customer alert on September 15, 2023, warning that the Senhance surgical robot's laparoscope instrument actuator could rotate continuously after disconnection from its remote control, posing a risk of tissue trauma, though no patient harm occurred, and the FDA classified it as a Class I recall.Report
- 2023-08-24Aiper Elite Pro Cordless Robotic Pool Vacuum Cleaners Recalled Due to Burn and Fire Hazards; Distributed by Shenzhen Aiper Intelligent Co. (Recall Alert)Recall
- 2023-08-17A Cruise self-driving robotaxi was struck by a San Francisco Fire Department truck en route to an emergency at the intersection of Polk and Turk Streets in the Tenderloin district, resulting in one passenger being transported to a hospital with non-severe injuries.Regulator action
- 2023-08-14Two Cruise autonomous vehicles stopped in traffic lanes on August 14, 2023 in San Francisco, allegedly delaying an ambulance transporting a pedestrian with life-threatening injuries who later died at the hospital, though Cruise disputes that its vehicles impeded the ambulance.Report
- 2023-08-07A driverless Cruise autonomous vehicle was struck by a semi-truck performing a left turn from the right lane near Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, sustaining damage to its passenger-side mirror, a camera, and a tire, with no passengers in the vehicle and no injuries reported.Report
- 2023-07-20A worker at Highline Mushrooms' Kingsville plant was critically injured after becoming entangled in netting on a net washer machine's rotating bar, resulting in a $143,750 fine against Highline Produce Limited.Report