Michael Pines | September 24, 2026 | Autonomous Vehicles \ Car Accidents
Self-driving vehicles are no longer just a glimpse of the future. They are now sharing San Diego streets with drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, and other road users.
On September 1, 2026, Waymo began welcoming public riders to its fully autonomous ride service in San Diego. Other autonomous vehicle companies are also testing or preparing vehicles for California roads.
That raises an important question: If a self-driving vehicle causes an accident, who is responsible?
In an ordinary car accident, liability often centers on the actions of the drivers involved. An autonomous vehicle accident can be considerably more complicated. Depending on what caused the crash, responsibility could potentially fall on the vehicle’s human operator, autonomous vehicle company, vehicle manufacturer, technology developer, component supplier, maintenance provider, another motorist, or even multiple parties at once.
Determining liability can require examining not only what happened on the road but also what the vehicle’s cameras, sensors, software, and onboard systems were doing in the moments before the collision.
Quick Insights
- California law recognizes certain Level 3, Level 4, and Level 5 vehicles as autonomous vehicles.
- Driver-assistance features such as adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assistance, and automatic emergency braking do not automatically make a vehicle legally “autonomous.”
- Liability for a self-driving vehicle accident depends primarily on why the accident happened.
- A human operator may be liable when they were required to supervise or take control of the vehicle but failed to do so.
- A vehicle manufacturer or autonomous technology company may potentially face liability when defective hardware, software, sensors, or other technology contributed to a crash.
- Fleet operators, maintenance contractors, component manufacturers, and other motorists may also share responsibility.
- Autonomous vehicle data can become particularly important evidence after an accident.
- California’s comparative negligence rules may allow responsibility to be divided among multiple parties.
- If a government entity contributed to an accident through a dangerous roadway condition, separate and significantly shorter claim deadlines may apply.
What Is Considered a Self-Driving Vehicle Under California Law?
Not every vehicle advertised as having “autopilot,” automated driving, or advanced driver assistance is legally considered an autonomous vehicle.
California Vehicle Code Section 38750 defines an autonomous vehicle as a vehicle equipped with integrated autonomous technology meeting Level 3, Level 4, or Level 5 under the SAE driving-automation classifications.
The law specifically excludes individual driver-assistance technologies such as:
- Blind-spot assistance
- Automatic emergency braking
- Parking assistance
- Adaptive cruise control
- Lane-keeping assistance
- Lane-departure warnings
- Traffic-jam assistance
Those features can help a driver operate a vehicle, but they do not necessarily eliminate the driver’s responsibility for controlling and monitoring it.
That distinction can become extremely important after an accident.
If a driver was merely using an advanced driver-assistance system, liability may look much more like a conventional car accident case. If the vehicle was actually operating autonomously without a human driver, the investigation may focus much more heavily on the companies and technology responsible for operating the vehicle.
Self-Driving Cars Are Already Operating in San Diego
Autonomous vehicle accident liability is no longer merely a theoretical question for San Diegans.
Waymo announced on September 1, 2026, that it had begun welcoming its first public riders in San Diego for fully autonomous trips. The company had spent months validating its system on local streets before beginning the rollout.
California also maintains extensive regulations governing autonomous vehicle testing and deployment. The California Department of Motor Vehicles oversees permit programs covering testing with a safety driver, driverless testing, and deployment.
As autonomous vehicles become a more routine presence on San Diego streets, drivers and pedestrians may increasingly encounter accidents in which there is no human driver sitting behind the wheel.
When that happens, determining fault requires answering a different set of questions.
Who Could Be Liable for a Self-Driving Car Accident?
There is no rule stating that one particular company or person is automatically responsible every time an autonomous vehicle crashes.
Instead, attorneys must determine what caused the collision.
Potentially liable parties can include the following.
1. The Human Driver or Operator
Some vehicles can perform substantial portions of the driving task while still requiring a human operator to remain attentive and intervene under certain circumstances.
If the system requires human supervision, the driver could potentially be negligent by:
- Failing to pay attention to the road
- Ignoring a takeover warning
- Using the system in conditions where it should not be used
- Falling asleep
- Becoming distracted by a phone
- Failing to take control when instructed
- Misusing the vehicle’s automated features
- Driving while impaired
- Ignoring vehicle warnings indicating that a system was malfunctioning
For example, imagine a vehicle tells its driver to take control because its automated system cannot safely interpret a construction zone. The driver is watching a video on their phone and fails to respond. Seconds later, the vehicle strikes another car.
The driver’s failure to intervene could become an important part of the liability investigation.
However, investigators might also ask why the autonomous system encountered the problem and whether its warning provided the driver with sufficient time to react.
It is therefore possible for human error and technology failure to contribute to the same crash.
2. The Autonomous Vehicle Manufacturer
If an autonomous vehicle itself was defective, the manufacturer may potentially be responsible under California product liability law.
Self-driving vehicles combine traditional automobile components with sophisticated technology. A defect could involve:
- Braking systems
- Steering components
- Cameras
- Radar
- LiDAR
- Sensors
- Computers
- Electrical systems
- Autonomous driving hardware
- Integration between hardware and software
California product liability law recognizes claims based on issues such as manufacturing defects, design defects, and inadequate warnings in appropriate circumstances. The precise theory of liability depends on the nature of the alleged defect and the evidence involved.
Suppose an autonomous vehicle approaches stopped traffic but a defective sensor does not properly detect the cars ahead. The system fails to brake and causes a rear-end collision.
If a defective component caused the failure, the manufacturer or another entity involved with that component could potentially be liable.
3. The Autonomous Driving Technology or Software Company
Modern autonomous vehicles depend on enormous amounts of software to perceive their surroundings, predict how other road users will behave, and decide how the vehicle should respond.
The technology must process information from numerous sources almost instantly.
Potential problems could include:
- Software errors
- Improper object recognition
- Failure to identify a pedestrian or bicyclist
- Incorrect interpretation of traffic signals
- Poor decision-making at intersections
- Incorrect mapping information
- Failure to recognize road construction
- Problems predicting another vehicle’s movement
- Inadequate software testing
- Failed or problematic software updates
- Improper integration between software and vehicle systems
If the autonomous driving technology fails and contributes to a collision, the company responsible for designing, developing, deploying, or maintaining that technology may become part of the liability investigation.
The exact legal theory will depend on that company’s role. Potential claims could involve product liability, negligence, or other theories rather than assuming that every software malfunction automatically creates liability.
4. The Company Operating the Driverless Vehicle Fleet
A fully autonomous vehicle used as a robotaxi may be owned and operated as part of a commercial fleet rather than by an individual motorist.
A fleet operator can have responsibilities involving:
- Vehicle inspections
- Maintenance
- Software updates
- Sensor calibration
- Safety procedures
- Vehicle monitoring
- Responding to reported problems
- Deciding when and where vehicles may operate
- Removing unsafe vehicles from service
Suppose a company repeatedly receives warnings that one of its autonomous vehicles has a malfunctioning sensor but continues putting that vehicle into service without correcting the problem.
If that defect later contributes to an accident, the fleet operator’s conduct could potentially become important when determining liability.
5. A Manufacturer of a Defective Sensor or Other Component
The company whose name appears on the vehicle may not have manufactured every component used in the autonomous driving system.
Autonomous vehicles can depend on components supplied by other companies, including:
- Cameras
- Radar systems
- LiDAR equipment
- Computer processors
- Braking components
- Steering equipment
- Batteries
- Communications equipment
If one of those products was defective and caused the vehicle to malfunction, the component manufacturer or supplier may potentially share responsibility.
This is one reason an autonomous vehicle crash can require a substantially more technical investigation than an ordinary collision.
6. A Maintenance or Repair Company
Even properly designed autonomous technology may become unsafe if it is improperly maintained.
Maintenance errors might include:
- Improperly calibrating sensors
- Installing incorrect replacement parts
- Failing to repair known problems
- Incorrectly servicing braking or steering systems
- Damaging cameras or sensor systems
- Failing to perform required inspections
For example, if a contractor replaces a damaged sensor but fails to properly calibrate it, causing the vehicle to incorrectly judge the distance to another car, the maintenance company could potentially bear some responsibility for a later collision.
7. Another Driver
The presence of a self-driving vehicle does not automatically mean the autonomous vehicle caused the crash.
Another motorist might cause an accident by:
- Speeding
- Running a red light
- Driving while distracted
- Following too closely
- Making an unsafe lane change
- Driving under the influence
- Failing to yield
- Cutting suddenly in front of the autonomous vehicle
For example, a human-driven vehicle might run a stoplight and crash into the side of a driverless taxi that entered the intersection legally.
In that situation, the negligent human driver could still be primarily or entirely responsible.
However, investigators might also evaluate whether the autonomous vehicle detected the approaching danger and responded appropriately. Liability must be based on the evidence rather than assumptions about whether humans or computers are safer drivers.
8. A Government Entity
Some crashes involve more than a vehicle malfunction or driver error.
A dangerous roadway condition could potentially contribute to an autonomous vehicle accident, such as:
- Malfunctioning traffic signals
- Missing or damaged signs
- Poorly designed intersections
- Dangerous road construction
- Severe pavement defects
- Improper roadway markings
These circumstances can raise questions about whether a city, county, state agency, contractor, or another entity responsible for the roadway contributed to the accident.
Claims involving California government entities have special procedural requirements and can have much shorter deadlines than ordinary personal injury lawsuits. Anyone who believes a dangerous public roadway contributed to an accident should therefore speak with an attorney promptly.
What If More Than One Party Caused the Accident?
Autonomous vehicle crashes will not always have a single cause.
Imagine this scenario:
A self-driving vehicle’s sensor has difficulty recognizing temporary lane markings in a San Diego construction zone. The system alerts the human safety driver to intervene, but the driver is distracted and responds too slowly. At the same time, another motorist is speeding through the work zone.
A collision occurs.
Depending on the evidence, potential responsibility might involve:
- The autonomous vehicle or technology manufacturer
- The human safety driver
- The speeding motorist
- A company responsible for sensor maintenance
- Potentially another party associated with the construction zone
California’s comparative fault rules allow responsibility for an injury to be divided among multiple people or entities when more than one party’s conduct contributed to the harm.
That makes identifying every potential cause of the accident particularly important in autonomous vehicle cases.
Product Liability vs. Driver Negligence in a Self-Driving Car Accident
One of the biggest differences between conventional and autonomous vehicle accidents is the possible shift from a traditional negligence case toward a product liability case.
In an ordinary car crash, the central question might be:
What did the driver do wrong?
In an autonomous vehicle accident, attorneys may additionally need to ask:
What did the vehicle do wrong, and why?
Those are very different investigations.
A negligence claim might examine whether a human operator acted reasonably. A product liability case might require investigating whether the vehicle or autonomous technology contained a defective design, manufacturing defect, or inadequate warning that contributed to the injuries.
Some cases may involve both theories.
What Evidence Can Help Determine Why a Self-Driving Vehicle Crashed?
Autonomous vehicles can potentially generate significantly more electronic evidence than traditional vehicles.
Important evidence may include:
- Vehicle event data
- Autonomous driving system logs
- Camera footage
- Sensor data
- LiDAR and radar information
- GPS information
- Vehicle speed
- Steering inputs
- Braking information
- Software versions
- Software update records
- System alerts
- Disengagement or takeover information
- Remote operator communications
- Maintenance records
- Sensor calibration records
- Internal incident reports
- Vehicle inspection records
Traditional accident evidence remains important as well, including:
- Police reports
- Witness statements
- Photos and videos from the scene
- Surveillance cameras
- Dashcam footage
- Physical vehicle damage
- Skid marks and roadway evidence
- Medical records
California’s DMV maintains a system for receiving autonomous vehicle incident reports and publishes collision reports associated with regulated AV operations.
Under California’s autonomous vehicle testing regulations, manufacturers operating under covered testing permits must also report qualifying collisions to the DMV. Current regulations require covered manufacturers to report collisions involving property damage, bodily injury, or death within 10 days using the state’s autonomous vehicle collision reporting process.
These records can provide another source of information during an investigation, although a DMV report by itself does not necessarily resolve legal responsibility for a particular personal injury claim.
Why Preserving Autonomous Vehicle Data May Be So Important
Electronic evidence can be particularly valuable in a self-driving car accident because it may provide a second-by-second picture of what the vehicle detected and how its system reacted.
Questions might include:
- When did the vehicle first detect the other car?
- Did it recognize a pedestrian?
- Did the traffic light register correctly?
- When did braking begin?
- Was an emergency maneuver attempted?
- Did the autonomous system disengage?
- Was a human instructed to take control?
- Was a sensor malfunctioning?
- Which software version was installed?
- Had similar problems happened before?
This evidence may be stored by several different companies rather than just one vehicle owner.
An attorney may therefore need to act quickly to identify relevant parties and demand preservation of logs, video, software information, and other electronic records before important data is overwritten, altered, or otherwise becomes unavailable.
Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers has previously discussed the importance of preserving electronic vehicle evidence in modern accident claims, including dashcam footage, infotainment information, and other digital records.
Can a Passenger in a Self-Driving Car File an Injury Claim?
Potentially, yes.
A passenger injured inside a driverless taxi may have a claim even though they had nothing to do with controlling the vehicle.
For example, a passenger could be injured when an autonomous vehicle:
- Rear-ends another vehicle
- Makes an unsafe turn
- Stops suddenly
- Collides with an object
- Is struck because another driver acted negligently
Determining who must compensate the passenger would depend on what caused the accident.
The responsible party could potentially be the autonomous vehicle company, another motorist, a manufacturer, a maintenance provider, or multiple defendants.
The fact that the injured person was riding inside the autonomous vehicle does not necessarily mean their claim must be against the autonomous vehicle company.
What If a Self-Driving Car Hits a Pedestrian or Bicyclist?
Pedestrian and bicycle accidents are another area where autonomous vehicle technology can create difficult liability questions.
An autonomous driving system must be able to identify and respond appropriately to people who may be much smaller and less predictable than another vehicle.
An investigation after a pedestrian or bicycle collision may examine whether the vehicle:
- Detected the person
- Properly classified them as a pedestrian or cyclist
- Predicted their movement
- Recognized a crosswalk
- Responded to the traffic signal
- Slowed appropriately
- Attempted emergency braking
- Had sufficient time and distance to avoid the collision
San Diego’s busy beach communities, downtown streets, tourist areas, and mixed-use neighborhoods frequently place vehicles in close proximity to pedestrians, bicycles, e-bikes, and scooters. Autonomous vehicles must navigate those same complicated environments.
What Should You Do After an Accident With a Self-Driving Vehicle?
Many of the steps that protect you after an ordinary car accident remain important after an autonomous vehicle crash.
If possible:
- Call 911 and report the accident.
- Seek medical attention for injuries.
- Photograph the autonomous vehicle, including identifying numbers, logos, license plates, and visible sensors.
- Take photographs and video of the entire crash scene.
- Identify witnesses and obtain their contact information.
- Save any dashcam footage from your own vehicle.
- Do not assume the autonomous vehicle company has preserved everything you may need.
- Avoid making detailed statements about fault before the accident has been investigated.
- Keep records of medical treatment, expenses, missed work, and other losses.
- Speak with a personal injury attorney who can determine what electronic evidence should be preserved.
Because important information may be held by a technology company rather than an individual driver, early investigation can be especially important after an autonomous vehicle collision.
What Compensation Can Be Available After a Self-Driving Vehicle Accident?
If another person or company is legally responsible for causing an autonomous vehicle accident, an injured person may be able to pursue compensation for losses such as:
- Emergency medical treatment
- Hospitalization
- Surgery
- Rehabilitation
- Physical therapy
- Future medical care
- Lost wages
- Reduced future earning capacity
- Property damage
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Disability
- Loss of enjoyment of life
Catastrophic accidents involving traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, or permanent disabilities may require an especially careful analysis of future medical expenses and long-term financial losses.
If an autonomous vehicle accident causes a death, eligible surviving family members may also have a potential California wrongful death claim.
How Long Do You Have to File a Self-Driving Car Accident Claim in California?
For many California personal injury cases, the general statute of limitations is two years from the date of injury.
However, exceptions can apply, and some claims have much shorter procedural deadlines. This is particularly important when a government agency may be responsible for a dangerous road condition.
There is another practical reason not to delay: autonomous vehicle accident cases can depend heavily on electronic evidence.
The sooner an investigation begins, the sooner steps can be taken to identify potentially responsible companies and seek preservation of relevant data.
Autonomous Vehicle Accidents Can Require a Different Type of Investigation
Self-driving vehicles may change who – or what – is behind the wheel, but they do not eliminate the need to determine responsibility when someone is seriously injured.
In a traditional car accident, investigators often focus primarily on driver behavior.
After an autonomous vehicle crash, the investigation may instead need to reconstruct an entire technological chain:
What did the sensors see? What did the software understand? What decision did the vehicle make? Did a mechanical system respond correctly? Was a human supposed to intervene? And did another driver contribute to the crash?
Answering those questions may require accident reconstruction experts, engineers, software specialists, product liability analysis, electronic discovery, and detailed review of vehicle records.
Contact a San Diego Self-Driving Car Accident Lawyer
With fully autonomous vehicles now providing rides in San Diego, accidents involving driverless technology are becoming an increasingly real concern for local motorists, passengers, bicyclists, and pedestrians.
Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers already represents individuals injured in crashes involving self-driving vehicles and other serious motor vehicle accidents in San Diego. The firm’s dedicated self-driving car accident practice recognizes that these cases may involve manufacturers, software and autonomous technology companies, fleet operators, maintenance providers, other motorists, and additional parties.
If you were injured by an autonomous or self-driving vehicle, determining who is responsible may require much more than simply reading the police report. Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers can investigate the accident, identify potentially liable parties, work to preserve critical vehicle data, and pursue compensation for your injuries and losses.
Contact Pines Salomon Personal Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation with a San Diego self-driving car accident lawyer.
We proudly serve San Diego, San Diego County, and its surrounding areas:
Pines Salomon Injury Lawyers – San Diego Office
835 5th Avenue #302, San Diego, CA 92101
(858) 551-2090
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Pines Salomon Injury Lawyers – La Jolla Office
4660 La Jolla Village Dr. San Diego, CA 92122
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