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Medium reported severity

San Francisco: cyclist alleges Waymo robotaxi passenger door and a second Waymo injured her in a bike lane, sues Waymo over Safe Exit warning system

A 26-year-old cyclist alleges in a June 2025 lawsuit that on 16 February 2025 a driverless Waymo carrying four passengers pulled over to the right-side curb beside a no-stopping sign next to a marked bike lane on Seventh Street in San Francisco, that a passenger opened a door into the bike lane, and that she was thrown into a second Waymo that was also pulling into the lane. The complaint states she sustained serious bodily injuries and was taken by ambulance for emergency treatment. The Chronicle reports her saying she suffered a brain injury and spine and soft tissue damage that has kept her out of work and off bicycles. The suit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court against Waymo and Alphabet, alleges battery, emotional distress, negligence and strict products liability and alleges that Waymo's Safe Exit passenger-warning system failed. Waymo did not comment on the suit and pointed to its own safety data. These are allegations reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

AI system
Waymo Driver
Waymo
Occurred
16 Feb 2025
Reported
19 June 2025
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Relation unknown
Reported harm
Physical InjuryPsychological Distress
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use · An institution’s AI use
Setting
Everyday life
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 4 sources, 1 underlying account
5 claims: 5 reported. 5 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Waymo Driver (driverless robotaxis) and its Safe Exit passenger-alert system

Reported harm

The San Francisco Chronicle reports the cyclist's lawsuit (serious bodily injuries, ambulance to a hospital) and the Chronicle's report that she said she suffered a brain injury and spine and soft tissue damage and has been unable to work or ride a bicycle and feels anxious and unsafe.

What remains unknown

  • The police report, hospital records and Waymo vehicle data were not inspected. The complaint (dated 6 June 2025) was read and states the plaintiff's allegations only.
  • Futurism reports that both passengers said it was their first Waymo ride. The Chronicle and the complaint both say the first vehicle carried four passengers, so the Futurism wording is treated as a paraphrase. The complaint gives an unknown number of passengers for the second vehicle.
  • The complaint states "serious bodily injuries" and does not name a brain injury. The brain injury is stated by the plaintiff as reported by the Chronicle.
  • Whether the passenger opened the door before or after the Safe Exit alert would have fired, and whether the second Waymo caused any contact, is unknown beyond the plaintiff's account.
  • The cyclist's injuries, work absence and recovery are stated by the cyclist. The current status of the lawsuit is unknown.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The lawsuit as reported alleges that a driverless Waymo stopped at a no-stopping curb in a marked bike lane, that its Safe Exit passenger-warning system failed to alert the passengers, and that a second Waymo pulled into the bike lane. No Waymo data or vehicle logs were inspected, and Waymo did not comment on the lawsuit.

5 claims: 5 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported On 16 February 2025 a cyclist riding in a marked bike lane on Seventh Street in San Francisco collided with the door of a stopped Waymo robotaxi and was thrown into a second Waymo, according to the cyclist's lawsuit and statement.

Causal attribution. The account is the plaintiff's, as stated in the lawsuit and a statement she released. No independent witness, police record or vehicle data was inspected. The other outlets rewrite the Chronicle report.

Reported The cyclist alleges that Waymo's Safe Exit system, which is meant to warn passengers of approaching cyclists and pedestrians, failed to alert the passengers before the door opened.

Causal attribution. Allegation in a civil complaint. The claim that no alert was issued is the cyclist's account of what the passengers told her, and Waymo has not responded to it in the inspected sources.

Reported The cyclist was taken by ambulance to a hospital and reports a brain injury with spine and soft tissue damage that has kept her out of work and off bicycles. She also says she feels anxious, stressed and unsafe.

Causal attribution. The complaint states "serious bodily injuries" and ambulance transport and does not name a brain injury. The brain, spine and soft tissue injuries and the work absence come from the plaintiff as reported by the Chronicle. No medical record was inspected.

Reported The cyclist sued Waymo and Alphabet in June 2025 in San Francisco County Superior Court alleging battery, emotional distress, negligence and (in the complaint) strict products liability, and seeking unspecified damages.

Causal attribution. The Chronicle article (dated 19 June 2025, updated 20 June 2025) describes the filing. The complaint (dated 6 June 2025) was inspected and lists four causes of action: intentional battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, general negligence and strict products liability.

Reported Waymo declined to comment on the lawsuit and cited its own safety data, which it said records 78% fewer injuries caused by collisions than human drivers over the same distance in the cities it serves.

Causal attribution. Company statement relayed by the Chronicle. The safety figure was not checked and does not address this collision.

  • sfchronicle.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    Waymo wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit, but pointed to its own safety data which it said records 78% fewer injuries caused by collisions compared with human drivers covering the same distance in the cities it serves.

Sources

4 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: United States.

The San Francisco Chronicle places the collision on Seventh Street in San Francisco and the suit in San Francisco County Superior Court. The cyclist's residence is not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-29: The San Francisco Chronicle article (read via a Wayback capture of the full text) is the only original report, and the complaint (dated 6 June 2025) was read. Futurism and Jalopnik rewrite the Chronicle, so the news reports and the complaint are kept in one independence group. Every claim is an allegation in a lawsuit or a statement by the plaintiff and stays at reported status. The cyclist, who is named in the reporting, is not named here.

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One cyclist reports being injured. The passengers of the two vehicles are not reported harmed.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). San Francisco: cyclist alleges Waymo robotaxi passenger door and a second Waymo injured her in a bike lane, sues Waymo over Safe Exit warning system. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-san-francisco-waymo-robotaxis-bike-lane-cyclist-alleges-injury-lawsuit

BibTeX

@misc{2025_san_francisco_waymo_robotaxis_bike_lane_cyclist_alleges_injury_lawsuit,
  title = {San Francisco: cyclist alleges Waymo robotaxi passenger door and a second Waymo injured her in a bike lane, sues Waymo over Safe Exit warning system},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-san-francisco-waymo-robotaxis-bike-lane-cyclist-alleges-injury-lawsuit}
}

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