Self-driving Waymo involved in crash in Denver, police say not at fault

For the first time in Denver’s history, an empty vehicle driving on its own was involved in a car crash.

A (human) driver traveling on West 8th Avenue rear-ended a stopped vehicle and pushed it into the back of a stopped Waymo at the Delaware Street intersection at around 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 27, according to the Denver Police Department. The self-driving Waymo taxi was unoccupied. None of the people involved suffered serious injuries, police say.

The two drivers claimed the Waymo stopped suddenly for no apparent reason, blaming it for the collision, CBS reported. A Waymo spokesperson says its vehicle stopped to yield to a pedestrian waiting in the curb cut to cross the street, adding that the pedestrian crossed without incident. One of the drivers told CBS they didn’t see anyone crossing.

There is no marked crosswalk or stop sign at the intersection where the Waymo stopped; however, state law requires vehicles to yield to pedestrians at all intersections and crosswalks, even if the lines are not marked.

Police issued the driver a citation for following too closely, finding him at fault.

“The driver who initially crashed was following too closely, causing his vehicle to strike the rear of another car and cause a secondary crash into the Waymo vehicle,” says a DPD spokesperson. “There is no indication that the Waymo vehicle caused the crash.”

This is the first reported collision involving a Waymo in Denver, according to DPD.

The incident comes before the self-driving taxis have even opened to the public.

The company says Waymo will be fully operational and open to Denver riders before the end of 2026. Waymo arrived in Denver last September, unleashing a fleet of AI-powered self-driving vehicles to map out the city. The operation started with human employees behind the wheel. Now, the powder blue electric vans roam the streets completely empty, marking the final stage of testing.

A peer-reviewed study by Waymo found that its self-driving cars had a significantly lower crash rate than human drivers. However, the vehicles have still been involved in over 1,600 collisions resulting in police reports since Waymo first launched its fully driverless service in Phoenix in 2020, according to company data.

There have only been three fatal collisions involving Waymo, though the autonomous vehicles were not considered at fault. In two incidents, the Waymos were empty and struck from behind by human drivers: one while in standstill traffic and the other while slowing to turn into a parking lot. In the third incident, a jaywalking pedestrian was reportedly hit by a human driver, and his body was thrown into the side of an unoccupied Waymo.

Though the Waymo was found not at fault in the Denver collision, if it did cause a crash, the company would be liable, explains Cyndi Karvaski, spokesperson for the Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure.

“Waymo is responsible for the safe operation of its vehicles and must follow all road and curbside rules the same as every other vehicle,” Karvaski says.