A Waymo robotaxi involved in a fatal pedestrian crash in Dallas was likely not at fault, according to police reports and vehicle data, but the incident raises deeper questions about how self-driving cars should respond to sudden, unpredictable dangers. The crash occurred when a pedestrian jaywalking on Maple Avenue was hit by an SUV traveling 35 miles per hour, then thrown approximately 30 feet into the path of an oncoming Waymo vehicle moving at 24 miles per hour.

What Happened in the Dallas Crash?

The sequence of events unfolded in seconds. The pedestrian, who had just left a nearby store with a companion, stepped into the street outside of a crosswalk and was struck from behind by the SUV driver. The impact threw the pedestrian's body across the roadway into the lane where the Waymo was traveling. According to Waymo's data, the robotaxi detected the pedestrian approximately 150 feet away and immediately began slowing down in anticipation of a potential crossing. By the time contact occurred, the Waymo had reduced its speed to just 5 miles per hour. Police determined that neither the SUV driver nor the Waymo was at fault in the incident.

The low-speed contact with the Waymo was unlikely to have been the primary cause of the pedestrian's fatal injuries, given the initial impact from the SUV at 35 miles per hour. The pedestrian was treated by emergency responders at the scene but died at the hospital. This marks Waymo's third fatality involving one of its vehicles, though the company was not deemed responsible in this case.

How Does This Compare to Past Autonomous Vehicle Incidents?

The Dallas crash immediately draws parallels to a 2023 incident involving Cruise, a competing robotaxi company. In that case, a pedestrian crossing against the signal was hit by a human-driven vehicle and thrown into the path of a Cruise robotaxi. Like Waymo, Cruise was not at fault for the initial impact. However, Cruise's response to the incident proved catastrophic for the company. Cruise failed to disclose key details to regulators and the public, including that its vehicle had dragged the pedestrian while attempting to pull over. This lack of transparency led to the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoking Cruise's permit and ultimately shutting down the company's operations.

Waymo has taken a markedly different approach. The company has been forthcoming with information about the Dallas incident and has not attempted to obscure details. This transparency stands in stark contrast to Cruise's handling of its fatal crash and may prove crucial to maintaining public trust and regulatory approval as autonomous vehicles continue to expand into new markets.

Could Waymo's Technology Have Prevented the Crash?

While Waymo was not legally at fault, transportation experts have begun asking whether autonomous vehicles with superhuman sensing and computational abilities could have taken additional steps to prevent or further mitigate such incidents. In 2021, Waymo conducted a comprehensive simulation study of all known fatal crashes in its Chandler, Arizona service area. The company modeled what would have happened if its autonomous system had been controlling either the at-fault vehicle or the vehicle that was struck.

The results were striking. Waymo's simulated autonomous system eliminated all crashes when controlling the at-fault vehicle, and prevented 82 percent of crashes when controlling the struck vehicle. This defensive driving capability suggests that autonomous systems can anticipate danger and take evasive action in ways human drivers often cannot. For example, in scenarios where a human driver ran a red light, the simulated Waymo would detect the violation and hold back from proceeding on the green light, avoiding the collision entirely.

In the Dallas incident, one theoretical scenario has emerged: if the Waymo had not braked but instead maintained or increased its speed, it might have cleared the area before the pedestrian arrived. However, this approach carries significant risks and would require the vehicle to have near-perfect predictive certainty. Other vehicles were present in adjacent lanes, making sudden acceleration potentially dangerous. Additionally, the pedestrian's trajectory after being thrown by the SUV was inherently unpredictable, making it difficult for any system to reliably calculate the optimal response in real time.

What Do Safety Data Show About Waymo's Overall Performance?

Despite this fatal incident, recent safety research demonstrates that Waymo's autonomous vehicles have a significantly better safety record than human drivers in comparable conditions. According to a new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) report, Waymo vehicles operating in self-driving mode were involved in 68 percent fewer crashes than human drivers in the same areas and years.

The data spans from 2021 to 2024 across four cities where Waymo operates. During this period, Waymo vehicles in driverless operation were involved in 1.28 reportable crashes per million vehicle miles traveled, compared with 4.06 crashes per million miles for human drivers. When examining specific crash types, the differences become even more pronounced:

• Rear-end collisions: Waymo's rate of rear-ending another vehicle was 91 percent lower than human drivers
• Being rear-ended: Waymo vehicles were rear-ended 40 percent less frequently than human-driven vehicles
• Overall safety maintenance: Waymo is maintaining consistent safety levels as its technology develops in locations where autonomous operation is permitted

The IIHS cautioned that these findings apply specifically to Waymo's current operating areas and may not extend to future regions or other autonomous vehicle companies. Many competitors do not publicly release vehicle miles traveled data, making industry-wide comparisons difficult.

How Should Society Evaluate Autonomous Vehicle Safety?

Experts emphasize that autonomous vehicles should be judged by consistent data collected over millions of miles, not by individual incidents or viral videos. Jonathan Adkins, CEO of the Governors Highway Safety Association, noted that society has long accepted imperfection in human driving despite its devastating toll. He stated that the same standard should apply to autonomous systems as they mature.

"For years, we have expected autonomous vehicles to be flawless while quietly accepting a human driving record that kills more than 36,000 people on our roads every year. This research is a powerful reminder that progress, not perfection, must be the standard for AVs, just as it has been for seat belts, airbags, automatic emergency braking and every other safety technology that eventually earned the public's trust," Adkins stated.

Jonathan Adkins, CEO of the Governors Highway Safety Association

The Dallas incident does highlight ongoing challenges for autonomous vehicles. Waymo's systems have been observed driving into flooded streets, passing stopped school buses, and impeding emergency vehicles. These incidents suggest that while autonomous systems excel at preventing common crash types, they still struggle with edge cases and unusual scenarios.

As autonomous vehicles become more prevalent on American roads, federal, state, and local safety officials face mounting pressure to establish consistent monitoring and reporting standards. Currently, there is no national requirement for companies to report vehicle miles traveled or detailed safety metrics, making it difficult to comprehensively evaluate the technology's real-world performance across different operators and regions.

The Dallas fatality serves as a reminder that even with superhuman sensing and reaction times, autonomous vehicles cannot prevent every tragedy. However, the data suggests they can significantly reduce overall crash rates compared to human drivers. The key to public acceptance and regulatory approval may ultimately depend less on achieving perfection and more on maintaining transparency, learning from incidents, and demonstrating measurable safety improvements over time.