Documented ADS–Animal Collisions

Sourced from NHTSA Standing General Order 2021-01 filings, filtered to incidents where the ADS was engaged at the moment it contacted an animal. Each row links to its NHTSA Report ID and any independently verified news coverage. Tell us about an incident we’re missing.

This list is almost certainly an undercount — here's why...

Several gaps in SGO 2021-01 likely suppress animal-collision reporting:

  • A reportable “crash” is defined as a physical impact between a vehicle and another road user (vehicle, pedestrian, cyclist) or property — animals are not enumerated as road users.
  • “Vulnerable road user” is defined as a person, so animals are excluded from that protected category.
  • The expedited 5-day reporting trigger fires only on a fatality, hospital-treated injury, vulnerable road user strike, air bag deployment, or tow-away — an ADS striking a deer with no human injury and no tow may surface only in monthly reporting, if at all.
  • Level 2 ADAS systems (e.g. Tesla FSD) are exempt from monthly reporting entirely, so non-severe ADAS–animal collisions never appear in this dataset.

Why some low-severity strikes are nonetheless reported is not always clear from the filings.

21
Total incidents
5
Operators
Apr 2022 – Jan 2026
Date range
Date Operator Location Summary NHTSA SGO News coverage
2026-01 Waymo LLC Del Valle, TX A Waymo AV with a test driver onboard struck a raccoon on a freeway in Del Valle, TX at 3 AM after the animal ran into its lane. The Waymo slowed to yield before its front left side made contact; the vehicle was towed. #30270-13663
2025-12 Waymo LLC San Francisco, CA A Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco stopped in an intersection after detecting a collision with a bird in flight, and a passenger car traveling behind rear-ended the stationary AV. #30270-13486
2025-11 Waymo LLC San Francisco, CA A Waymo robotaxi struck a small dog in San Francisco's Western Addition. The dog suffered severe pelvic trauma and was euthanized by its family. #30270-13270
2025-10 Waymo LLC San Francisco, CA A Waymo robotaxi killed KitKat, a beloved bodega cat, in SF's Mission District. Surveillance footage contradicted Waymo's claim that the cat 'darted under' the vehicle: the cat sat near the tire while a woman tried to retrieve it before the Waymo drove off. #30270-12070
2025-09 Waymo LLC Austin, TX A Waymo robotaxi in Austin struck a domestic animal, apparently a cat, that emerged from behind a parked vehicle on a narrow street with parked cars lining both curbs. The animal was injured. #30270-11840
2025-09 Waymo LLC Austin, TX A Waymo robotaxi in Austin struck a domestic animal that emerged from in front of a parked vehicle on a narrow street lined with parked cars on both sides. The front right tire made contact and the animal was injured. #30270-11698
2025-09 Tesla, Inc. Austin, TX A Tesla robotaxi struck an animal at an Austin intersection in September 2025. The narrative is fully redacted in NHTSA's filing; press coverage notes Tesla logged the incident among a string of robotaxi crashes reported that fall. #13781-11787
2025-07 Zoox, Inc. San Francisco, CA A Zoox vehicle in autonomous mode in San Francisco braked when a ball and then a dog entered the roadway from between parked cars; its underbody made contact with the dog. The operator reversed to free the dog; the owner later alleged abrasions and a possible cracked rib. #30610-11514
2025-05 Waymo LLC Phoenix, AZ A Waymo robotaxi in Phoenix struck a domestic animal that entered the roadway from in front of a parked vehicle as the AV was merging back to the right lane after passing two parked cars. #30270-10957
2025-03 Waymo LLC Los Angeles, CA A Waymo robotaxi struck a domestic animal in Los Angeles after dark when the animal crossed from a gap between parked cars into the AV's lane. A passenger riding in the Waymo was unbelted at the time of impact. #30270-10323
2025-01 Waymo LLC Tempe, AZ A Waymo robotaxi in Tempe, AZ struck and killed a domestic animal that emerged from a gap between vehicles in the leftmost lane while the AV was passing stopped traffic. #30270-9822
2024-12 Waymo LLC Phoenix, AZ A Waymo robotaxi in Phoenix made contact with a dog that was lying motionless in its lane of travel at night. #30270-9569
2024-11 Waymo LLC Inglewood, CA A Waymo robotaxi in Inglewood, CA struck and killed a rabbit that entered the roadway from between parked cars on the north side of the street. #30270-9406
2024-10 Waymo LLC San Francisco, CA A Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco made contact with a small dog already lying in the roadway, having apparently been struck previously by another vehicle. #30270-9177
2024-08 Waymo LLC San Francisco, CA A Waymo robotaxi in San Francisco struck a small dog that ran into the street from between two parked cars. The AV engaged heavy braking; the front driver-side tire contacted the dog as it stopped, and Waymo received notice of injury. #30270-8632
2024-08 Waymo LLC Phoenix, AZ A Waymo robotaxi in Phoenix engaged heavy braking when a dog ran toward its path at an intersection, but the rear driver-side of the AV made contact with the dog. Waymo received notice of injury to the dog. #30270-8612
2024-06 Waymo LLC Phoenix, AZ A Waymo robotaxi in Phoenix struck an animal that appeared to be a cat after it ran into the roadway from the left side; contact was made with the rear driver-side of the AV before dawn. #30270-8120
2023-09 General Motors, LLC Tempe, AZ A GM Cruise vehicle in Tempe, AZ was involved in an animal collision; GM filed this duplicate of the underlying Cruise report under the SGO. The narrative provides no specific incident details beyond the duplicate-filing context. #540-6454
2023-05 Transdev Alternative Services San Francisco, CA A Waymo test vehicle in San Francisco struck and killed a small dog that ran into the street in front of the AV. A test driver was in the driver's seat; Waymo described the strike as unavoidable. #30531-5770
2022-08 Transdev Alternative Services Phoenix, AZ A Waymo test vehicle in Phoenix struck and killed a domestic dog that ran into the street in front of the AV at night. A test driver was present in the driver's seat. #30531-3879
2022-04 Waymo LLC Phoenix, AZ A Waymo test vehicle in Phoenix struck and killed a cat that entered the street from the right curb at night. The test driver took manual control after impact; the cat had no ID tags. #30270-3010