Commercial robot incidents, Q1 2025
Q1 2025: 5 documented incidents involving commercial robots (+67% on the quarter before), 4 with a person hurt and 2 fatal. 1 reached a regulator, a recall or a court. Most involved Pet Pivot (1). Largest class: autonomous vehicle (2).
Incidents are counted by the date they happened, 2025-01-01 to 2025-03-31. 0 cases were published to the register during the quarter, including older events documented for the first time. Counts measure what was reported in English and cleared verification; fleet sizes are not public, so nothing here is a rate. Rules on the methodology page. Previous quarter for comparison: Q4 2024.
By kind of machine
- Autonomous vehicle2
- Consumer2
- Humanoid1
By company
- Pet Pivot1
- Unitree Robotics1
- Waymo1
- Zoox1
By outcome
- fatality2
- minor injury2
- property damage1
The cases that reached furthest
Ordered by severity, then by how many independent sources the case rests on.
- 2025-01-19An unoccupied Waymo robotaxi stopped at a traffic light was rear-ended in a multi-vehicle collision at Sixth and Harrison Streets in San Francisco, killing one person and injuring seven others.Report
- 2025-01-27A cat named Sarabi was fatally crushed by an Autoscooper 11 self-cleaning litter box in a Bronx apartment on January 27, 2025, when the device's safety mechanism failed to stop when the animal was inside.Report
- 2025-02-22A humanoid robot malfunctioned at a festival in China and moved toward attendees, prompting security guards to intervene; authorities confirmed the malfunction was unexpected and that the robot had passed prior tests.Follow-up
- 2025-03-19Zoox issued a voluntary software recall for 258 vehicles equipped with autonomous driving software released before November 5, 2024, following two incidents in which motorcyclists collided with the rear of Zoox-equipped Toyota Highlanders that were operating with their autonomous systems engaged.Report
- 2025-03-07Pool cleaner robot: Poolrunner Battery Pro PerformanceRecall
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 5 incidents dated Q1 2025
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.
- 2025-03-19Zoox issued a voluntary software recall for 258 vehicles equipped with autonomous driving software released before November 5, 2024, following two incidents in which motorcyclists collided with the rear of Zoox-equipped Toyota Highlanders that were operating with their autonomous systems engaged.Report
- 2025-03-07Pool cleaner robot: Poolrunner Battery Pro PerformanceRecall
- 2025-02-22A humanoid robot malfunctioned at a festival in China and moved toward attendees, prompting security guards to intervene; authorities confirmed the malfunction was unexpected and that the robot had passed prior tests.Follow-up
- 2025-01-27A cat named Sarabi was fatally crushed by an Autoscooper 11 self-cleaning litter box in a Bronx apartment on January 27, 2025, when the device's safety mechanism failed to stop when the animal was inside.Report
- 2025-01-19An unoccupied Waymo robotaxi stopped at a traffic light was rear-ended in a multi-vehicle collision at Sixth and Harrison Streets in San Francisco, killing one person and injuring seven others.Report