Driverless car crashes with pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclistsYou never agreed to their terms.

This page is for people hit by a driverless car in California while walking, using a wheelchair, riding a bicycle, e-bike or scooter, or riding a motorcycle, and for families of people killed in those crashes. Riders inside the car are covered on our robotaxi passenger injuries page, and every topic is collected on our California self-driving car accident lawyer page. The traffic rules themselves are on our pedestrian, bicycle and motorcycle accident pages.

Driverless cars on California streets

As of October 5, 2026, Waymo is the only company carrying paying riders in driverless cars in California, and Zoox gives free rides in San Francisco under a pilot permit. AutoMo, Nuro, Tensor and WeRide also hold DMV permits to test without a driver, so an empty car with roof sensors is not always a Waymo. Our Waymo accidents and Zoox accidents pages cover each company. Current holders are on the DMV permit page and the CPUC permits page.

A Tesla is not a driverless car in California. The DMV lists "TESLA ROBOTAXI LLC" only among companies testing with a driver, and Tesla told the CPUC on January 30, 2026 that "all rides are conducted with a safety driver in the driver's seat." If a Tesla hit you, see our page on Tesla Autopilot and FSD crashes.

Vulnerable road users

Federal crash rules treat people outside the car as their own category. NHTSA's Standing General Order defines a "vulnerable road user" as "any person who is not an occupant of a motor vehicle with more than three wheels," including "pedestrians, persons traveling in wheelchairs, bicyclists, motorcyclists." A company running an automated driving system must report a crash involving "the strike of a vulnerable road user" within five days, the same deadline as a crash that sends someone to a hospital (91 Fed. Reg. 30789, May 26, 2026).

NHTSA's public file released September 15, 2026, covering reports received from June 16, 2025 through August 17, 2026, lists 26 California reports in which the other party was a motorcyclist (12), cyclist (8), scooter or skateboard rider (4) or pedestrian (2). These are the companies' own reports. They say a car was involved, not that it caused anything. NHTSA says the program "is not currently a program designed to support normalized, 'apples-to-apples' comparison scorecards" and that its notice "is based on allegations of a crash, rather than verified crashes." Our self-driving car crash lookup searches the file.

No rider contract

Rider terms that send passengers to arbitration do not bind someone who never agreed to them. The California Supreme Court restated the rule in Holland v. Silverscreen Healthcare, Inc. (Aug. 14, 2025): "As a general rule, plaintiffs cannot be compelled to arbitrate their disputes if they have not previously agreed to arbitration." A pedestrian or cyclist hit by a Waymo or Zoox did not accept the terms, so their arbitration clauses and their one- and two-year notice deadlines should not apply.

One wrinkle is unsettled. Waymo's terms define a covered claim to include "any claims related to the use or operation of our Services," and Zoox's terms reach disputes about any relationship between you and Zoox. If you hold your own account, the company could argue that your crash claim falls under those terms even though you were not riding. No California court has ruled on that argument for robotaxi terms. If you have an account, tell your lawyer before you answer any letter from the company.

Negligence and traffic laws

The company behind a driverless car answers for careless driving the way any driver does. Vehicle Code section 38750 makes the "operator" of a car with no one in the driver's seat the one who "causes the autonomous technology to engage," which in a driverless fleet points to the company, not anyone inside. Negligence means failing to use the care a reasonable person would use. The heightened duty some carriers owe runs to passengers only; CACI No. 907 says a carrier "owes the highest care and vigilance to persons only while they are passengers." Our guide to who is liable covers product claims about the driving system as well.

Traffic laws help measure that care. Under Evidence Code section 669, a person who violates a statute is presumed negligent when the violation causes the kind of injury the law was meant to prevent to the kind of person it protects, unless the violator shows it acted as a careful person "who desired to comply with the law" would. We have found no California appellate decision yet applying that presumption to a driverless car's maneuver. The right-of-way rules are explained on our crosswalk accidents and bike lane and right hook pages.

Since July 1, 2026, a police officer who sees a driverless car break a traffic law may issue a Notice of Autonomous Vehicle Noncompliance to the manufacturer (DMV AVIM 2026-002). The notice is not a ticket or a finding of fault, and Vehicle Code section 38752(d) says it "shall not create a presumption that the autonomous vehicle is unsafe." The violation itself, proved with video and the car's data, is what can support a negligence claim.

Doors opened by robotaxi riders

When a robotaxi stops to let riders out, the door can be the hazard. Vehicle Code section 22517 says "No person shall open the door of a vehicle on the side available to moving traffic unless it is reasonably safe to do so," and it binds every occupant, including a passenger in a driverless car. The company's own choices can matter too: where the car stopped, and whether it warned the rider. The rules of a dooring claim are on our dooring accidents page.

One San Francisco lawsuit shows how these claims are pleaded. A cyclist's complaint against Waymo, dated June 6, 2025, alleges that in February 2025 a Waymo stopped beside a 7th Street bike lane at a curb posted "No Stopping" except for commercial vehicles, a rear passenger opened a door into the lane, and a second Waymo merging for a drop-off crossed into it; the cyclist hit the door and was thrown into the second car. The complaint alleges that the exit-warning feature failed, and pleads negligence based in part on Vehicle Code violations and strict product liability. These are allegations, and we know of no ruling on them. If a door hit you, get the plate, the time to the minute and every passenger you can identify.

A car that keeps moving

A driverless car may not stop where it hit you. Waymo's collision page says the car "may continue driving to reach a safe spot to stop," and tells people outside to "look for our dome light signal, which indicates that the Waymo Driver is aware an event has occurred." It lists a collision line, 1-844-263-9885, an online collision form and a QR code on either front door. Our Waymo insurance and claims page explains that process, and whether hit-and-run rules fit a car with no driver, which is unsettled.

In Waymo's federal report of a February 2024 crash with a cyclist at a San Francisco four-way stop (No. 30270-7075), the car "remained stopped in the intersection for approximately one minute, and after the path was clear, resumed driving for a short period of time" before a member of Waymo's roadside assistance team brought it back to the scene. A later version of the report added Waymo's statement that the cyclist "had entered the 4-way stop intersection without stopping or yielding." These reports are the company's account, and they can change.

Movement after impact can cause harm of its own. On October 2, 2023 in San Francisco, after an unknown driver struck a pedestrian into the path of a driverless Cruise car, the Cruise car stopped, then tried to pull over with her underneath, traveling "approximately 20 feet" and reaching "a speed of 7 mph," according to the CPUC's Decision 24-07-004. The DMV suspended Cruise's deployment and driverless testing permits on October 24, 2023.

Children and school zones

On January 23, 2026, an unoccupied Waymo struck a child crossing midblock near an elementary school in Santa Monica during morning drop-off. Waymo reported that the child sustained minor injuries. NHTSA opened Preliminary Evaluation PE26-001 on January 28, 2026 to examine "the ADS's intended behavior in school zones," including "its adherence to posted speed limits," and "Waymo's post-impact response." The National Transportation Safety Board lists its investigation, HWY26FH008, as ongoing. Neither agency has made findings.

The two records give different speeds. Waymo's federal crash report (No. 30270-13850) lists a pre-crash speed of 6 mph and says the car "applied hard braking." NTSB's preliminary information, released March 3, 2026 and marked "preliminary and subject to change," says the car "was traveling north on 24th Street at 17 mph" in "a 25-mph speed limit school zone, approximately 40 feet north of the end of the adjacent 15-mph speed limit school zone" before it braked.

Under 49 U.S.C. section 1154(b), no part of an NTSB Board report may be "admitted into evidence or used in a civil action for damages," though NTSB's own rule says there is "no statutory bar" to its factual accident reports (49 C.F.R. section 835.2). How school-zone speed limits and a child's standard of care work in a California claim is explained on our child pedestrian accidents page.

Motorcycles and sudden braking

Hard braking by a driverless car is a known risk for riders behind it. Zoox said in March 2025 that two of its retrofitted test vehicles, which always carry safety drivers, "were rear-ended by motorcycles after the test vehicles braked." Its recall report 25E-019 says that when a vulnerable road user was "rapidly approaching the rear," the software "may have incorrectly anticipated a collision and braked unnecessarily hard," and it could also brake hard for a cyclist near a crosswalk on a fresh green light. Zoox says updated software reached all affected vehicles by November 7, 2024.

NHTSA closed its investigation, PE24-015, on March 31, 2025 with that recall, after finding that Zoox vehicles "contributed to 4 collisions," each involving a vulnerable road user, three with injuries. A rider who rear-ends a car usually faces the argument that they followed too closely. Under comparative fault, a jury divides responsibility and reduces an award by the rider's share, so a car that brakes hard for no reason can still bear part of the blame. Our pages on rear-end fault and lane splitting accidents cover those rules.

Deadlines and family claims

Because you did not accept the rider terms, the ordinary deadlines apply. Code of Civil Procedure section 335.1 gives two years to sue for an injury or death "caused by the wrongful act or neglect of another." If a family member was killed, the wrongful death claim belongs to the heirs; our pages on who can file a wrongful death claim and survival actions explain who brings it.

Steps after the crash

1. 1
   Get care and call 911

   If anyone is hurt, call 911. Ask the officers for their agency and the report number.

2. 2
   Identify the car

   Note the company, the plate, the time to the minute and the direction the car went. Waymo's collision line is 1-844-263-9885.

3. 3
   Find the cameras

   Note homes, shops, buses and cars nearby that may have recorded the crash, and get witnesses' contact details.

4. 4
   Keep your gear

   Keep the bike, scooter, helmet or motorcycle as it is, and photograph it and your injuries.

5. 5
   Hold your statement

   Talk to a lawyer before you give the company or its insurer a recorded statement or sign anything, and say if you hold an account with the company.

Our self-driving car crash checklist has the full list, and our guide to evidence after a self-driving car crash explains how the company's video and sensor data are requested.

Your claim against the company

A driverless car's company answers to the people it hits the way a careless driver would, without the rider terms that bind its passengers. What decides the claim is what the car did, what the records show and who else shared the blame. At Wise Personal Injury & Accident Law, we identify the company, request its records and track the deadline. Josh Kohanim, Esq. is the firm's founder and trial attorney. Call (424) 235-7879, where Spanish-speaking staff answer the phone, or use the form. No fee unless we recover.