Commercial robot incidents, Q3 2025
Q3 2025: 23 documented incidents involving commercial robots (+64% on the quarter before), 14 with a person hurt and 2 fatal. 2 reached a regulator, a recall or a court. Most involved Waymo (8). Largest class: autonomous vehicle (14).
Incidents are counted by the date they happened, 2025-07-01 to 2025-09-30. 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 2025.
By kind of machine
- Autonomous vehicle14
- Humanoid7
- Delivery2
By company
- Waymo8
- Tesla4
- Serve Robotics2
- Unitree Robotics2
- Zoox2
- Baidu1
- Figure AI1
By outcome
- minor injury11
- no harm7
- fatality2
- property damage2
- serious injury1
Notable
The cases that reached furthest
Ordered by severity, then by how many independent sources the case rests on.
- 2025-09-14A Waymo robotaxi slowing to turn into a parking lot on Rural Road near Arizona State University was rear-ended by a motorcyclist, who was then struck by a hit-and-run human driver and later died at the hospital.Report
- 2025-09-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with motorcycle in Tempe, AZ, reported to NHTSA as a fatalityReport
- 2025-07-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with suv in Santa Clara, CA, reported to NHTSA as moderate w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-09-13A Serve Robotics delivery robot collided with a man with cerebral palsy riding a mobility scooter on a sidewalk near the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station, causing his scooter to jolt backward.Follow-up
- 2025-09-17Tesla reported three accidents involving its Robotaxi service Model Y vehicles in Austin, Texas, in July 2025, including one with a minor injury and two with only property damage, while redacting narrative details from NHTSA filings.Report
- 2025-09-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with pickup truck in Atlanta, GA, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport
Escalation index
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%
Filed with the regulator
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
Every case
All 23 incidents dated Q3 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.
- 2025-09-17Tesla reported three accidents involving its Robotaxi service Model Y vehicles in Austin, Texas, in July 2025, including one with a minor injury and two with only property damage, while redacting narrative details from NHTSA filings.Report
- 2025-09-14A Waymo robotaxi slowing to turn into a parking lot on Rural Road near Arizona State University was rear-ended by a motorcyclist, who was then struck by a hit-and-run human driver and later died at the hospital.Report
- 2025-09-13A Serve Robotics delivery robot collided with a man with cerebral palsy riding a mobility scooter on a sidewalk near the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station, causing his scooter to jolt backward.Follow-up
- 2025-09-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with motorcycle in Tempe, AZ, reported to NHTSA as a fatalityReport
- 2025-09-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with pickup truck in Atlanta, GA, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-09-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with non-motorist: cyclist in Atlanta, GA, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-09-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with suv in Los Angeles, CA, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-09-01Former Figure AI principal robotic safety engineer Robert Gruendel sued the company in the Northern District of California, alleging he was dismissed in September 2025 after warning executives that the company's humanoid robots were powerful enough to fracture a human skull, and citing a malfunction in which a robot carved a quarter-inch gash into a steel refrigerator door.Lawsuit
- 2025-09-01A Serve Robotics sidewalk delivery robot repeatedly blocked and then collided with Mark Chaney-Gay's mobility scooter near the West Hollywood Sheriff's Station on Santa Monica Boulevard last September (referenced as a prior viral incident in an article published March 2026).Report
- 2025-08-26Zoox issued a voluntary software recall affecting 332 vehicles after its autonomous driving system caused robotaxis to cross center lane lines or block crosswalks near intersections, with 62 such instances recorded between August 26 and December 5, 2025, and no collisions reported.Recall
- 2025-08-23A Unitree G1 humanoid robot deviated from its planned martial arts demonstration at a UFC event in Shanghai and moved toward UFC boss Dana White, who dodged away unharmed.Report
- 2025-08-18Multiple humanoid robots fell down repeatedly during China's Robot Games competition.Report
- 2025-08-15Humanoid robots fell, crashed, and malfunctioned repeatedly at the inaugural World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing from August 15 to 17, 2025.Report
- 2025-08-15A Unitree H1 humanoid robot struck a bystander during the 1500-meter race at the Humanoid Robot Sports Games when two human operators failed to issue an evasion command in time during a remote-control handover.Report
- 2025-08-06A Baidu Apollo Go robotaxi carrying a female passenger fell into a deep construction pit in Chongqing, China; the passenger was uninjured and rescued by local residents using a ladder.Report
- 2025-08-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with suv in San Francisco, CA, reported to NHTSA as moderate w/o hospitalizationReport
- 2025-08-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with heavy truck in San Francisco, CA, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-07-25Tesla's Optimus humanoid robot production is reported to be severely behind schedule due to technical bottlenecks with robot hands, with mostly complete units missing hands piling up at Tesla's facility.Report
- 2025-07-06A Tesla Robotaxi (Model Y) drove into the side of a parked Toyota Camry in the parking lot of Home Slice Pizza in Austin after completing a drop-off, lightly grazing the Camry's right tire.Report
- 2025-07-03Humanoid robots competed in China's inaugural RoBoLeague football tournament in Beijing, with some falling and requiring 'rescue' during play.Report
- 2025-07-01A Zoox autonomous vehicle (Toyota Highlander) was involved in a crash with passenger car in Spring Valley, NV, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-07-01A Waymo autonomous vehicle (Jaguar I-Pace) was involved in a crash with suv in Santa Clara, CA, reported to NHTSA as moderate w/ hospitalizationReport
- 2025-07-01A Tesla autonomous vehicle (Tesla Model Y) was involved in a crash with suv in Austin, TX, reported to NHTSA as minor w/ hospitalizationReport