ABC15 reports that data on self-driving robotaxis, including Waymo and soon Tesla, keeps pointing in the same direction: they crash less often than vehicles with a human behind the wheel. According to the outlet, a new study found Phoenix is the major U.S. city where that gap is widest. A lower rate is not a zero rate, and the people in the small remaining share of those collisions still have medical bills, lost income, and a claim to file.
When a crash involves a vehicle operating without a human driver, the injury claim does not disappear; it shifts targets. Arizona law lets an injured person pursue the entity whose conduct caused the harm, which for an autonomous vehicle can mean the company that owns and operates the fleet, the manufacturer of the driving system, a maintenance contractor, or another human driver involved. The deadline is the same as any other injury case: two years from the date of injury under A.R.S. § 12-542, and 180 days to serve a notice of claim under A.R.S. § 12-821.01 if a public entity or employee is a defendant. Comparative fault under A.R.S. § 12-2505 still applies, so an injured person who bears part of the responsibility recovers a reduced amount rather than nothing. Preserving evidence matters more than usual, because the most important witness is often a sensor log held by the company you may end up suing.
There Is No Driver to Trade Information With, So Document the Vehicle Itself
Arizona requires a driver involved in a collision resulting in injury or death to stop and remain at the scene under A.R.S. § 28-661. With a driverless vehicle there is no person to hand you a license and an insurance card, so the burden of building the record falls on you and on law enforcement. Do these things before you leave, if you are physically able:
- Call police and get the report or incident number. That number is how your lawyer later pulls the official record.
- Photograph the vehicle from several angles, including any fleet number, license plate, decal, or identifying marking on the body or roof hardware.
- Photograph the scene: lane position, signal state, crosswalk markings, debris, skid marks, and the weather and light conditions.
- Ask nearby people for a phone number. Independent accounts matter when the opposing party controls the electronic data.
- Get medical attention the same day, even if you feel functional. Gaps in treatment become the insurer's main argument.
Do not give a recorded statement to any company representative or insurer, and do not sign a release or a medical authorization at the scene or in the days after. You can always talk later; you cannot unsign.
The Data Is the Case, and the Company Holds It
A vehicle running an automated driving system records far more than a human driver remembers: camera and lidar feeds, speed, steering and braking inputs, object detection and classification, and the decisions the system made in the seconds before impact. That record can establish exactly what happened. It is also in the hands of the operator, and retention policies are not written for your benefit. Send a written preservation demand quickly, identifying the date, location, and vehicle, and asking that all sensor, telemetry, video, and event data be retained. A lawyer can send that letter within a day and follow it with formal discovery or a subpoena if a suit is filed. Claims involving a product or software defect are different animals from ordinary negligence claims; they can require expert analysis of the system's design and performance, which is another reason to start early rather than at the edge of the two-year limit in A.R.S. § 12-542.
Deadlines, Shared Fault, and Claims After a Death
Two years from the date of injury is the general rule under A.R.S. § 12-542. If any defendant is a city, county, or state entity or employee, a notice of claim must be served within 180 days of when the claim accrues under A.R.S. § 12-821.01, and missing that window can end an otherwise strong case. Arizona is a pure comparative fault state under A.R.S. § 12-2505, so an insurer's argument that you were partly at fault reduces your recovery by your percentage but does not bar it. If a crash kills someone, Arizona's wrongful death statutes, A.R.S. § 12-611 through A.R.S. § 12-613, control who may bring the action and what the family may recover, and A.R.S. § 14-3110 governs claims that survive on behalf of the person who died.
If you were injured in a collision in the Phoenix metro area, whether a human or a computer was driving, our Phoenix car accident attorneys can explain your options.