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What to Do After a Crash Involving a Driverless Car

After a driverless-car crash, put safety first. Learn what to record, who to contact, and why police and regulator reporting rules depend on the location and circumstances.
Entry347 Date Time4 min MechanicCarCody Team
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If anyone is injured, call 911 immediately. Get yourself and others out of traffic if it is safe, and follow emergency responders’ directions. Do not approach a vehicle that is still moving or put yourself in danger to take photos. Once the scene is safe, exchange information, document what happened, contact the vehicle operator and your insurer, and check the crash state’s reporting requirements.

What to do at the scene

  1. Check for injuries and danger. Call 911 if anyone is hurt or there is an immediate hazard. California’s Department of Insurance advises stopping and moving only when safe; Texas’s Department of Insurance advises moving out of the road if nobody was injured. Follow the instructions of emergency responders.
  2. Do not assume the vehicle has stopped. Some automated vehicles may continue after impact to reach a safer stopping place. Waymo says this can happen with its vehicles. Do not approach a moving car or stand in traffic to inspect it. Waymo also says its dome light indicates that its system is aware an event occurred; that signal is specific to Waymo and should not be assumed for another vehicle. Waymo: What to do after a collision.
  3. Follow local police procedures. Police response and crash-reporting duties vary by state and circumstances. California advises trying to notify police and says authorities may decide whether to respond. Texas advises calling police if someone is injured or the other driver leaves. Check the rules for the state where the crash happened rather than treating either state’s guidance as nationwide law. California Department of Insurance: What should I do at the scene of an accident?; Texas Department of Insurance: What to do after a car accident.

What information and evidence to collect

After people are safe, exchange information and record the circumstances while details are fresh. Do not argue about fault or make a roadside determination about whether the automated system caused the crash.

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  • Names and contact details for the people involved, plus insurance information.
  • Vehicle descriptions, license plates, and any identifying details available for the automated vehicle or its operator.
  • Witness names and contact information.
  • The time and location, weather and road conditions, and your account of the sequence of events.
  • Photos of damage, vehicles, plates, street signs, and the road layout, but only when it is safe to take them.

If you receive medical treatment, keep related records and bills. Save photos, any police report, and correspondence with the operator and insurers together. Texas and California insurance guidance both recommend documenting the crash and supporting a claim with relevant records. Texas Department of Insurance; California Department of Insurance.

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Who to contact after the scene is safe

The automated-vehicle operator

Report the collision through the vehicle company’s official channel. Do not assume every operator uses the same process. For a Waymo collision, the company lists a phone number, online collision form, QR code on either front door, insurance email, and roadside representative. Waymo says that after information has been exchanged, an involved person does not need to wait for a representative to arrive. Follow the current instructions on Waymo’s collision page; use another operator’s own official contact route for a different vehicle.

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Your insurer

Notify your own insurer or agent promptly and ask what information it needs to open or document a claim. Keep the claim number and correspondence with your crash records. State requirements, policy terms, and coverage decisions are separate questions; do not assume that reporting the collision guarantees a particular outcome. Texas Department of Insurance; California Department of Insurance.

Police, DMV, and federal safety reports serve different purposes

Route Purpose What to know
911 and local police Emergency response, scene safety, and official crash response Call 911 for injuries or immediate danger. Police response and reporting duties depend on local rules and the circumstances.
Vehicle operator Notify the company and exchange collision-related information Use that operator’s official contact process; Waymo’s options are company-specific.
Your insurer Open and document an insurance claim Report the crash and keep supporting evidence and medical records. Policy terms and state rules matter.
NHTSA or a state AV reporting channel Raise an automated-vehicle safety concern with regulators These channels do not replace 911, required police or DMV reporting, or an insurance claim.

NHTSA accepts reports of automated-vehicle safety issues at its safety-problem reporting page and by phone at 888-327-4236. California’s DMV separately accepts incident or safety-concern reports about autonomous vehicles on California public roads; see California DMV’s incident reporting page.

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Do not assume every automated vehicle is driverless—or every crash is in a federal database

NHTSA distinguishes automated driving systems (ADS), which it describes as SAE Levels 3–5, from Level 2 driver-assistance systems. A mature ADS is intended to perform the entire dynamic driving task within its operational design domain without driver involvement; a Level 2 system still requires the human driver to remain engaged. If you report the collision, describe what you observed rather than deciding at the scene which system was operating or who was legally at fault. NHTSA: Standing General Order on crash reporting.

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NHTSA’s Standing General Order applies to specified reporting entities and has different criteria for ADS and Level 2 ADAS crashes. For ADS, the criteria include system use within 30 seconds before the crash and specified consequences. Level 2 ADAS criteria are narrower and include a struck vulnerable road user, fatality, airbag deployment, or hospital transport. The order has been amended, so consult NHTSA’s live page for the current definitions. It does not mean every collision involving an automated feature will be reported to NHTSA.

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