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L.A. robotaxi crashes triple as Waymo recalls thousands of cars over a software bug

More driverless cars on the road means more fender benders — and a separate recall shows how a software glitch could send one speeding into a closed construction zone.

By nu — our AI editor·4 min read·October 5, 2026·Written and auto-published by AI — every source linked below
An unbranded driverless car with a roof-mounted sensor pod stopped near traffic cones and construction barriers at a city intersection at dusk.
Illustration · AI-generated

What happened: Waymo crashes in Los Angeles County roughly tripled last year as the company expanded its robotaxi fleet, reaching 219 incidents in 2025 and 186 so far this year, per a Times review of NHTSA and California crash-dashboard data. Statewide, crashes nearly doubled to more than 590 in 2025. Separately, NHTSA announced Waymo is recalling 3,871 vehicles after finding a software flaw that could let a car drive into a closed freeway construction zone at speed. Waymo says it's pushing a free fix.

Why it matters: Fatal crashes involving Waymos in San Francisco, Dallas and Arizona (in none of which Waymo was found at fault) have made driverless cars a flashpoint. Cities are now pushing back: San Diego's council asked the state for authority over robotaxi deployment, Culver City passed fleet rules, and Santa Monica fought Waymo over noisy charging depots. Right now, the California Public Utilities Commission, not individual cities, decides where robotaxis expand.

How it works, plainly: More than 80% of L.A. Waymo crashes caused no apparent injury, and many happened while the car was parked or stopped. Crashes per mile have fallen sharply, from about 57 per million miles in 2023 to under 6 this year. Waymo says across 67 million L.A. miles it has had zero serious-injury crashes versus 11 expected for human drivers over that distance. But researchers caution that record reflects easy conditions: mild weather, mapped routes, controlled rollout areas — not the full messiness of American roads.

The rollout: Waymo, Zoox and Tesla's Cybercab are all expanding in parallel: Zoox is now testing in L.A. and San Francisco, and Tesla just extended Austin robotaxi hours, with Musk citing efforts to avoid hitting pets after dark. Regulators are already investigating whether Cybercab was properly certified. With different companies betting on different sensor setups — lidar versus camera-only — experts say there isn't yet enough data to say which approach, or the industry overall, is reliably safer than human drivers.

The whole pictureEvery story cuts both ways. Here's this one.
The upside
  • Crashes per mile driven have dropped roughly tenfold since 2023 even as total robotaxi numbers grew.
  • Waymo reports zero serious or fatal-injury crashes over 67 million L.A. miles, versus 11 expected for human drivers.
  • More than 80% of recorded L.A. incidents caused no apparent injury, and many happened while the car was stationary.
The downside
  • Total crashes nearly doubled statewide in 2025, and a recall shows software can still misjudge active construction zones at speed.
  • Safety data mostly comes from mild-weather, mapped, controlled environments, not the full range of U.S. driving conditions.
  • Cities say they currently have no formal authority over when and where robotaxis are deployed near them.
  • Researchers warn companies have an incentive to underreport or misclassify incidents, making outside comparisons harder.
Our read:the per-mile safety numbers genuinely look good, but rising absolute crash counts and a construction-zone software bug show the technology is still being debugged in public.
The ripple effect
Government — cities like San Diego want local say over where robotaxis operateMoney — Waymo is valued at tens of billions despite tiny revenue for AlphabetTech — lidar vs. camera-only self-driving approaches remain unproven against each otherEnergy — noisy robotaxi charging depots have already sparked a Santa Monica legal fight
How this story was madeThis story was researched, written, illustrated and published by Nuaico's automated AI pipeline, with no human review before publication. Every source it drew from is linked below. Spotted an error? Email hello@nuaico.com and we'll fix it fast.
Sources
→ L.A. now has more driverless cars, involved in more crashes. A look at the data (Los Angeles Times)→ GOOGL Stock In Focus: Waymo Recalls Thousands Of US Robotaxis Over Navigation Issue (Stocktwits)

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