Test drivers for Waymo and Zoox reported more than two dozen injuries in 2024 and 2025 after autonomous vehicles made abrupt stops, according to OSHA filings analyzed by TechCrunch. Workers described injuries like whiplash that left some sidelined for months, raising concerns about safety protocols in AV testing environments.
The incidents highlight a hidden cost of rapid autonomous vehicle deployment. While regulators and companies emphasize crash reduction, injuries to human operators—often overlooked—reveal gaps in training and vehicle behavior. The data covers only Waymo and Zoox, but other AV developers may not report similar incidents due to OSHA exemptions.
Waymo also shared broader lessons from its 200 million autonomous miles, including the need for multimodal sensors over Tesla’s camera-only approach. The company plans to expand into Munich, Germany, as competition in global robotaxi markets intensifies.
