Commercial robot incidents, Q4 2023
Q4 2023: 5 documented incidents involving commercial robots (-37% on the quarter before), 3 with a person hurt and 1 fatal. 3 reached a regulator, a recall or a court. Most involved Cruise (1). Largest class: autonomous vehicle (2).
Incidents are counted by the date they happened, 2023-10-01 to 2023-12-31. 0 cases were published to the register during the quarter, including older events documented for the first time. Counts measure what was reported in the press the register reads and cleared verification; fleet sizes are not public, so nothing here is a rate. Rules on the methodology page. Previous quarter for comparison: Q3 2023.
By kind of machine
By company
By outcome
The cases that reached furthest
Ordered by severity, then by how many independent sources the case rests on.
- 2023-11-07A robotics company employee in his 40s was crushed to death by a robotic arm at a pepper sorting plant in South Gyeongsang province, South Korea, after the arm confused him for a box of vegetables and pushed him against a conveyor belt.Follow-up
- 2023-10-02A Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian who had been pushed into its path by a hit-and-run vehicle and pinned the person beneath its tire in San Francisco, leading to California regulators revoking Cruise's robotaxi permits.Criminal charge
- 2023-10-31A Robotic E-GYM Leg Press machine at a Montgomery, Alabama YMCA malfunctioned on October 31, 2023, allegedly forcefully compressing a user's knees into her chest and causing sacroiliac joint dysfunction, piriformis syndrome, and sciatic nerve involvement.Lawsuit
- 2023-12-22Robotic vacuum cleaner: Mini vacuum sweeperRecall
- 2023-12-11Two unoccupied Waymo robotaxis separately collided with the same improperly towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona on December 11, 2023, resulting in minor damage and no injuries, prompting Waymo's first-ever software recall.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: 256 cases, 42 escalated.
- Cruise5/8 · 63%
- Zoox4/9 · 44%
- Starship Technologies1/8 · 13%
- Waymo7/73 · 10%
- Tesla1/13 · 8%
- Unitree Robotics0/9 · 0%
What the operators wrote in their own crash reports
1551 crash reports filed with NHTSA by 19 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 Zoox, Inc.144
- Stopped or blocking traffic, most often Waymo LLC140
- A pedestrian involved, most often Waymo LLC65
- A cyclist or scooter rider, most often Waymo LLC46
- Rear-ended by another vehicle, most often Zoox, Inc.42
- Roadworks, cones or a closure, most often Waymo LLC24
All 5 incidents dated Q4 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.
- 2023-12-22Robotic vacuum cleaner: Mini vacuum sweeperRecall
- 2023-12-11Two unoccupied Waymo robotaxis separately collided with the same improperly towed pickup truck in Phoenix, Arizona on December 11, 2023, resulting in minor damage and no injuries, prompting Waymo's first-ever software recall.Report
- 2023-11-07A robotics company employee in his 40s was crushed to death by a robotic arm at a pepper sorting plant in South Gyeongsang province, South Korea, after the arm confused him for a box of vegetables and pushed him against a conveyor belt.Follow-up
- 2023-10-31A Robotic E-GYM Leg Press machine at a Montgomery, Alabama YMCA malfunctioned on October 31, 2023, allegedly forcefully compressing a user's knees into her chest and causing sacroiliac joint dysfunction, piriformis syndrome, and sciatic nerve involvement.Lawsuit
- 2023-10-02A Cruise robotaxi ran over a pedestrian who had been pushed into its path by a hit-and-run vehicle and pinned the person beneath its tire in San Francisco, leading to California regulators revoking Cruise's robotaxi permits.Criminal charge