Deaths involving commercial robots in 2025
The Machine Record lists 5 verified fatal incidents involving commercial robots dated 2025: 0 that reached a regulator, recall, fine, lawsuit or settlement. Counted on 2026-10-03; every case links to its sources.
- Cases
- 5
- Someone hurt
- 5
- Fatal
- 5
- Escalated
- 0
- Period
- 2025-01 to 2025-09
By month
- January████████████ 2
- February 0
- March 0
- April 0
- May██████ 1
- June 0
- July 0
- August 0
- September████████████ 2
- October 0
- November 0
- December 0
By outcome
- fatality5
By type of event
- fatality2
- collision2
- injury1
Counts measure what was reported in English and cleared verification, not how many events took place. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of this is a rate. Rules are on the methodology page; the numbers are CC BY 4.0, cite this page. CSV, JSON and an API are on the data page.
Cases
The 5 cases behind the number
Newest first. Each one links to its timeline and to the sources it 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
- 2025-05-26An employee of N&C Enterprises Ltd. in Kilmeague was struck and killed by a rotating robotic arm after entering a restricted area through a retrofitted gate that bypassed the plant's safety protections.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
- 2025-01-19An 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
Questions
What people ask about these numbers
- How many fatal incidents involving commercial robots incidents were there in 2025?
- The Machine Record lists 5 verified fatal incidents involving commercial robots dated 2025: 0 that reached a regulator, recall, fine, lawsuit or settlement. Counted on 2026-10-03; every case links to its sources.
- What counts as an incident here?
- A case enters the register only when two independent published sources or one regulator record (NHTSA, CPSC, OSHA, EU Safety Gate) describe the same event with a date and an outcome. Demonstrations that went wrong, recalls, investigations, injuries and deaths all count; marketing and speculation do not.
- Is this every incident that happened?
- No. It is every incident reported in English that cleared verification. Fleet sizes are not public, so none of these numbers is a rate, and a company with more cases is often a company with more vehicles on the road and more press coverage.
- Can I reuse these numbers?
- Yes. Case metadata is CC BY 4.0: cite The Machine Record with a link. CSV and JSON exports and an API are on the data page.
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