The rapid expansion of robotaxi services by Waymo and Zoox over the past two years has been accompanied by a significant human cost, as revealed by an analysis of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) data by TechCrunch. Test drivers for these companies sustained over two dozen injuries in 2024 and 2025, primarily due to hard braking or sudden maneuvers by the autonomous vehicles. These injuries, including sprains, strains, and whiplash, have led to some drivers being sidelined for extended periods, ranging from weeks to months. Transdev, which manages Waymo’s test drivers, reported 16 injuries across three cities linked to the autonomous software’s abrupt braking or swerving, while Zoox documented up to eight worker injuries from similar incidents.

Despite the scale of these incidents, the full extent of injuries may be underreported, as OSHA data only includes companies classified under higher-hazard industries with 100 or more employees. Waymo and Zoox fall into this category, but other autonomous vehicle companies might be exempt from disclosure. Furthermore, test drivers in newer cities where operations have not yet scaled may have experienced injuries not captured in the available dataset. Both Waymo and Zoox have acknowledged the occurrence of hard-braking incidents, attributing some to unavoidable circumstances or the detection of road debris. However, they emphasize that such injuries represent a small fraction of the millions of miles their test fleets have traveled. Notably, Zoox continues to face hard-braking issues even after implementing a recall intended to address unexpected braking behavior, raising concerns about the safety of both test drivers and the broader deployment of robotaxi services.

This is a summary. Read the original at techcrunch.com.