Sprains, pain, and whiplash: Waymo and Zoox test drivers are getting hurt as robotaxis scale

The accelerated scaling of robotaxis implicit the past 2 years has travel with a hidden quality cost. 

Test drivers for Waymo and Zoox sustained much than 2 twelve injuries successful 2024 and 2025 from hard braking oregon different abrupt movements made by the autonomous vehicles, according to a TechCrunch reappraisal of information submitted to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. 

These trial drivers, who enactment autonomous vehicles done their paces connected nationalist roads, person suffered sprains, strains, whiplash, and more, according to OSHA information and interviews with erstwhile and existent workers. Some person been sidelined for weeks oregon months.

Transdev, which employs and manages Waymo’s trial drivers, reported 16 injuries tied to Waymo depot locations successful 3 cities that were caused by the autonomous bundle braking hard oregon swerving suddenly. Zoox reported arsenic galore arsenic 8 idiosyncratic injuries linked to hard braking. 

Other autonomous conveyance companies bash not look successful the dataset, though it’s imaginable they’re exempt. The Zoox and Waymo injuries look due to the fact that the companies classify themselves arsenic taxi, limo, oregon transit services, which OSHA subjects to greater disclosure due to the fact that they’re “higher-hazard” industries. OSHA besides lone requires establishments with 100 oregon much employees successful these industries to marque this accusation public, meaning trial drivers successful newer cities wherever operations haven’t scaled whitethorn person been injured connected the occupation without appearing successful this dataset. 

TechCrunch was incapable to larn whether Waymo oregon Transdev logged immoderate caller injuries successful 2026. OSHA does not necessitate companies to taxable yearly information until the pursuing twelvemonth arsenic portion of the agency’s Injury Tracking Application.  

In Zoox’s case, injuries are inactive happening, according to sources who spoke to TechCrunch connected information of anonymity.  

Two existent and 3 erstwhile Zoox contractors told TechCrunch that the company’s trial fleet vehicles — modified Toyota Highlander SUVs equipped with its self-driving strategy — were inactive braking hard and abruptly arsenic precocious arsenic July. Three of those contractors said workers are inactive getting hurt. The workers were granted anonymity to sermon backstage operations. 

Zoox declined to reply circumstantial questions astir the injuries it reported past twelvemonth oregon the claims contractors made to TechCrunch astir the continued hard-braking issues. The institution said it follows indispensable reporting requirements and takes injuries seriously. 

Zoox besides said hard-braking incidents are sometimes unavoidable and that the injuries reported past twelvemonth correspond a tiny percent of the millions of miles its trial fleet traveled. 

Waymo besides declined to reply questions astir the injuries reported to OSHA.  

“The information of our riders, roadworthy users, and squad is of paramount importance,” Waymo told TechCrunch. “As portion of the process of responsibly deploying afloat autonomous vehicles, we person driven tens of millions of miles with quality operators down the wheel. This is portion of our ongoing validation process and learnings from these trips are integrated into the service.” 

Transdev declined to comment.  

More miles, much injuries 

Image Credits:Waymo

While Waymo has spent much than a decennary processing its self-driving cars, it wasn’t until 2025 that it truly started to scale. The institution started offering rides successful caller cities and began mapping and investigating successful others, increasing its commercialized fleet to more than 1,500 vehicles by May 2025.  Today, that fleet is much than 3,500 vehicles.

Waymo doesn’t interruption retired however galore vehicles it uses conscionable for testing. But the magnitude of autonomous conveyance investigating astir surely accrued arsenic the institution expanded its work areas and started to familiarize itself with wholly caller locations.  

Test operator injuries increased, too.  

Transdev reported 5 Waymo trial operator injuries successful 2024 crossed San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. One was related to hard braking, portion the different 4 were related to erratic conveyance behavior.  

In 1 case, a trial operator reported that the car “suddenly backed up” portion parking itself and “whipped the steering wheel,” catching his near manus and bending it “to the constituent helium heard a ace successful his wrist.” The worker spent much than 2 months distant from enactment arsenic a result. 

The fig of injuries jumped to 11 successful those 3 markets successful 2025, and hard braking was the origin of astir each of them. Last September, a trial operator successful Phoenix coiled up having to walk 157 days distant from enactment aft their conveyance “made an exaggerated breaking [sic] lawsuit without immoderate obstruction.” At slightest 2 different wounded reports specifically notation that the hard braking happened for nary evident reason.  

The lone wounded study from 2025 that offers a crushed for a hard-braking lawsuit progressive an incidental that happened successful August successful Los Angeles. The worker reported that “some kids were playing successful the pathway.” The Waymo robotaxi stopped hard capable that the idiosyncratic spent 175 days distant from their job.  

“Software braked harshly” 

Image Credits:Zoox

The Zoox contractors said hard braking — oregon “brake jabs,” arsenic they are referred to internally — tin hap aggregate times connected a azygous trial drive, sometimes successful the aforesaid location. They tin hap astatine immoderate speed, though higher-velocity braking incidents typically instrumentality a harsher toll connected the body, the workers said.  

The braking often happens erstwhile the autonomous driving strategy detects — oregon mistakenly detects — debris of immoderate benignant connected the road, they said. 

The scariest incidents, the contractors said, are erstwhile a trial conveyance experiences a “nogo” — internal codification for an full strategy shutdown that often leads to a brake jab.  

“You could beryllium going 45 miles per hr and the car volition enact a nogo, and abruptly you’re being whipped guardant successful the mediate of the street, successful traffic, and you request to beryllium capable to instrumentality implicit quickly,” 1 said. 

This behaviour shows up repeatedly successful the wounded reports Zoox submitted to OSHA.  

On January 5, 2025, a Zoox trial conveyance was driving autonomously successful San Francisco erstwhile it abruptly slammed connected the brakes. The “harsh” stop, arsenic Zoox described it, injured the enarthrosis and precocious limb of a contractor who was wrong the SUV, leaving the idiosyncratic connected restricted work for 16 days. 

Later that month, different operator was wounded aft a Zoox trial conveyance made an “unexpected” stop, injuring their cervix and leaving them with a swollen shoulder. It took the contractor 8 days to instrumentality to enactment without restrictions. 

Most of the Zoox-reported injuries look to person happened to workers who beryllium successful the driver’s spot of the SUVs. The institution besides reported an wounded to an teacher who trains the trial drivers. That wounded took spot connected June 3 successful San Francisco, erstwhile the trial vehicle’s “software braked harshly,” causing the teacher successful the backmost spot to study “sharp symptom successful little close ribs and tightness successful near enarthrosis upon returning to base.”  

The injured teacher reported further injuries to the spine and pelvis, though their enactment restrictions lasted lone 4 days, according to the data.  

Seven of the 8 entries explicitly notation hard braking, nogos, oregon brake jabs. The eighth wounded progressive a idiosyncratic who was sidelined for the longest magnitude of clip — 46 days — and who reported “extreme backmost pain” aft operating a trial conveyance successful Las Vegas successful May 2025. Zoox wrote that the idiosyncratic said they “were not definite if it was related to the behaviour of the conveyance successful autonomy oregon not but they said it hurts them to thrust arsenic good arsenic instrumentality heavy breaths,” and attributed the wounded to a “vehicle maneuver.”  

Zoox is dealing with these hard-braking issues arsenic it yet begins offering a existent commercialized robotaxi work successful a bid to vie with Waymo. The Amazon-owned institution started charging for rides successful its purpose-built robotaxi for the archetypal clip this period successful Las Vegas. It offers escaped rides successful San Francisco and is testing successful Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. 

Four of the injuries Zoox reported successful 2025 happened aft the institution issued a recall meant to resoluteness a year-long national probe into the inclination of its autonomous vehicles to brake unexpectedly. Zoox told TechCrunch the callback addressed an highly constrictive braking behaviour and said the aboriginal incidents — and immoderate resulting injuries — are unrelated to the bundle fix. 

Two of the radical who spoke to TechCrunch said that braking tin beryllium challenging adjacent erstwhile manually driving the Zoox trial cars due to the fact that of the other value of the self-driving sensor suite. Test drivers are trained to brake with the other weight, they said, though they added that insignificant injuries tin beryllium sustained adjacent during that grooming process. 

It’s hard to cognize if Zoox is experiencing hard-braking incidents with immoderate regularity successful its purpose-built vehicles, which bash not person accepted controls specified arsenic a steering instrumentality oregon pedals. They either run unoccupied oregon transportation passengers who mostly aren’t employees – meaning immoderate injuries wouldn’t beryllium reported to OSHA.  

Zoox has reported 2 robotaxi crashes to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration successful the past 8 months successful which hard braking for debris resulted successful the purpose-built vehicles being rear-ended. The company’s descriptions of the crashes don’t specify what debris was spotted successful either case.