Self-Driving Car Statistics 2025: Autonomous Vehicle Safety, Accident, and Adoption Report

Self-driving cars are becoming more commonplace on the road. While some vehicles can drive themselves entirely, most offer driver assistance such as cruise control, lane-centering, and partial driving automation. In this report, FinanceBuzz compiles data on automated vehicles, the differences between assisted and automated driving systems, crash trends, and their legal, ethical, and insurance implications.

Our data comes from the Pew Research Center, the Brookings Institution, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), and the University of Michigan.

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Key self-driving car statistics

In 2024, the number of self-driving car accidents nearly doubled, with 544 reported crashes (compared to 288 in 2023). Similarly, semi-autonomous vehicle accidents increased 35% year over year.
Self-driving cars are more than twice as likely to be involved in an accident compared to human-driven cars, but some studies suggest they are considerably less injurious (and fatal) than human-operated vehicle crashes.
Public trust in self-driving cars is rising slowly. 37% of Americans say they would ride in one as a passenger, up from just 21% in 2018.
Younger people trust self-driving cars. 51% of Gen Z said they'd feel comfortable riding in a self-driving car, the highest of any generation.
California, Texas, and Arizona reported the highest total crash volumes involving self-driving vehicles, with each state reporting more than 300 incidents.
Crashes involving semi-autonomous vehicles peaked in November and December 2024, with 92 and 94 incidents, respectively.
Tesla reported the most crashes among semi-autonomous vehicles, with 2,093 incidents. Honda and Subaru follow with 112 and 47 crashes, respectively.
Waymo leads in fully autonomous vehicle crashes with 907 incidents reported. Cruise follows with 155, although as of 2025, its robo-taxi service has been shut down.
Front-end damage accounted for 62% of crashes involving semi-autonomous cars. For fully autonomous vehicles, damage occurred in the rear 54% of the time.

What self-driving means in 2025

The idea of self-driving cars has shown up again and again in pop culture. In I, Robot (2004), for example, fully autonomous vehicles glide effortlessly through a highly organized, networked traffic system.

In reality, technology is progressing in that direction, but today's self-driving vehicles exist at varying levels of automation. To define what that means, the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) created a six-level scale that classifies vehicle automation from fully manual to fully autonomous.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) also groups these levels into two main categories: advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), which include Level 2 features, and automated driving systems (ADS), which cover Levels 3 through 5. While ADS vehicles are being used in limited environments, none are currently available for consumer purchase.

Most Americans don't trust self-driving cars (yet)

The consumer perspective on self-driving cars has often leaned more towards the negative than the positive. According to a Pew Research Center survey, nearly two-thirds of Americans would not want to ride in a driverless vehicle. However, respondents were more open to the idea if they had more knowledge on the topic — 54% who felt knowledgeable on the topic would ride, versus 32% who admitted to knowing little.

When compared to a similar 2018 Brookings Institution survey, which reported just 21% of Americans were willing to ride in a self-driving vehicle, it suggests that the overall perception surrounding these types of car systems is improving with time.

A more recent survey conducted by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety suggests driver attitudes towards self-driving cars have improved slightly between 2024 and 2025, with those expressing trust rather than fear increasing from 9% to 13%.

Americans are also divided on how driverless vehicles might impact injuries and deaths in traffic accidents. 31% of respondents felt there would be no impact. 39% of survey respondents thought autonomous vehicles would decrease rates, while 27% felt the opposite. Compared to the Brookings Institution study, Americans' impressions of the safety impact of self-driving cars are improving.

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Self-driving car safety and accident statistics

Safety is a top concern when it comes to self-driving technology, which occupies a legal and ethical grey area. While the keywords "self-driving cars" are often used, fully autonomous vehicles aren't currently available for consumer purchase. However, driver assistance systems that require human oversight are available.

Even with these limitations, this technology has led to real-world consequences. In 2016, the first fatal crash involving a semi-autonomous vehicle occurred when a Tesla Model S collided with a tractor-trailer.

Still, it's unclear how much safer, or what safety looks like, for self-driving cars. The National Law Review reports that for every million miles driven, there are 9.1 self-driving car crashes, versus 4.1 per million in regular cars, meaning self-driving cars are 2 times as likely to get into an accident. Some research suggests however, that these accidents may be less injurous (and fatal) than those in human-driven cars.

Self-driving car accident statistics by state

Crash reports involving semi-automated vehicles (such as those with driver assistance features like Tesla Autopilot or FSD) and fully autonomous vehicles are most concentrated in a handful of states. California reports the highest number of crashes across both types of self-driving cars, with over 1,600 incidents. Arizona and Texas follow, with 341 and 345 crashes, respectively. Florida cracks 200 crash incidents, with 191 of them involving semi-automated vehicles (ADAS-equipped).

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Crash statistics in self-driving cars by month and year

Crashes involving vehicles with semi-autonomous capability (i.e., ADAS) rose steadily over the 12-month period beginning in April 2024, peaking in November and December (92 and 94 crashes, respectively). Vehicles with true automated driving systems (ADS) followed a similar trend, with crash reports climbing throughout the year and spiking during the holiday season.

Interestingly, the beginning of 2025 marked an important milestone for fully autonomous vehicles — as of April 2025 (the most recent data available), fully autonomous (ADS) vehicles have reported more accidents than driver-assisted (ADAS) vehicles.

Do self-driving car accidents result in injuries?

Like all car accidents, self-driving car accidents can pose some risk to occupants. Still, crash statistics show relative safety in both fully self-driving (ADS) and driver-assisted (ADAS) vehicles.

There is only one fatality on record with ADS vehicles, representing 0.1% of total crashes. While higher for ADAS vehicles, remember that these vehicles are much more common on the road, and actually have a lower rate of any injury report (91.3% without injury).

In crashes involving semi-automated vehicles, damage is most commonly reported in the front of the vehicle, which accounts for 62.0% of incidents. The rear and sides see less damage overall. For fully autonomous vehicles, damage is typically reported more often in the rear, with 54.2% of damage reported in this area.

Car accident statistics by brand

When it comes to crashes involving semi-autonomous cars, Tesla accounts for the highest number with 2,093 reported incidents. Behind are Honda and Subaru with 112 and 47 crashes, respectively.

Two newer players in the semi-automated market are Rivian and Lucid, which both began delivering vehicles with Level 2 automation in 2021. Since then, they have reported 13 and 9 crashes, respectively.

15 Car Brands With the Most Crashes in Driver Assistance Equipped Vehicles
Brand	Number of Crashes
Tesla, Inc.	2,093
Honda (American Honda Motor Co.)	112
Subaru of America, Inc.	47
General Motors, LLC	43
Ford Motor Company	28
Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing	27
BMW of North America, LLC	21
Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC	13
Nissan North America, Inc.	13
Rivian Automotive, LLC	13
Kia America, Inc.	12
Hyundai Motor America	10
Lucid USA, Inc.	9
Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.	7
Daimler Trucks North America, LLC	5
Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Standing General Order on Crash Reporting

While cars with the highest levels of automation (Levels 3 to 5) aren't available for the general public to purchase, they're already being tested on public roads and come with their own safety challenges. Among these, Waymo, LLC reports the highest total crashes (907 incidents) while the now-defunct Cruise robotaxis (a subsidiary of General Motors) follows with 155 crashes.

15 Car Brands With the Most Crashes in Automated Driving System (ADS)* Vehicles
Brand	Number of Crashes
Waymo, LLC	907
Cruise, LLC	155
General Motors, LLC	149
Transdev Alternative Services	138
Zoox, Inc.	81
May Mobility	25
Argo AI	20
PACCAR, Inc.	20
Ford Motor Company	17
Aurora Operations, Inc.	16
Motional	13
Hyundai Motor America	12
WeRide Corp	11
Beep, Inc.	8
Nuro	8
*ADS vehicles are not currently available for consumer purchase

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Standing General Order on Crash Reporting

Legal, ethical, and insurance implications of self-driving cars.

As self-driving technology advances, the laws, ethics, and insurance implications haven't fully caught up. Below, FinanceBuzz examines the unresolved legal, ethical, and insurance-related questions that arise from handing over more control to vehicles, as well as the real-world implications for drivers.

Legal grey area around self-driving cars

There's still a lot of legal gray area when it comes to self-driving vehicles. Who is at fault in a crash remains unclear. There is no unified federal law, and state regulations vary. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) offers resources and guidance on the topic.

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) also collect vast amounts of data, including GPS history, video and audio footage, biometric data, driver behaviors and preferences, and other sensor readings. But who owns that data remains unclear. There's also concern that this data could be vulnerable to hacking, which is something the USDOT and NHTSA are working to safeguard against.

Ethical implications of autonomous vehicles

There are also several unanswered ethical questions surrounding self-driving vehicles. For example, if a crash is unavoidable, who or what should the car prioritize? Should the car protect its passengers at the cost of a pedestrian?

Another dilemma: according to an academic study by Benjamin Wilson, Judy Hoffman, and Jamie Morgenstern, self-driving systems may be less accurate when detecting pedestrians with darker skin tones, suggesting that the object detection algorithms may not perform equally across various demographic groups.

Finally, how could self-driving cars impact the job market? Transportation-sector workers could potentially be replaced by autonomous driving technology in the future.

How self-driving cars might cause shifts in the insurance industry

As control moves further away from driver to vehicle, autonomous vehicles (AVs) introduce new challenges for auto insurers and could change how liability is assigned after a crash. Fault in an accident will go beyond pointing to human error.

AVs could also lower accident rates opening the door for new insurance pricing models. Tesla's Real-Time Insurance Program is an example of this, using real-time driving data and vehicle performance from its vehicles to determine insurance premiums.

FAQs

Are all self-driving cars the same?

No, there are two main classifications for self-driving capabilities spread across different levels of automation. First, cars placed in levels 1 and 2 are called Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), and cars in levels 3 to 5 have systems called Automated Driving Systems (ADS). There are currently no ADS vehicles available for consumer purchase.

What is the difference between ADAS and ADS vehicles?

Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) still require driver assistance (such as cruise control) or offer partial automation (such as Tesla's Autopilot). They generally require human oversight and are not completely self-driving. However, cars with an Automated Driving System (ADS) fall between a realm of conditional automation (minimal driver involvement) and full automation.

What state has the most self-driving car accidents?

California has the highest number of crashes for both semi- and fully-autonomous equipped vehicles. However, this is not normalized, and additional comparisons are needed in the future to get a clearer picture of self-driving car accidents in each state.

Can self-driving cars be trusted?

Self-driving technology is improving, but trustworthiness by drivers has varied over the years. The amount of automation in vehicles and the safety and regulations all impact driver trust.

What self-driving cars have the most accidents?

For semi-autonomous cars, Tesla has reported the most crashes, followed by Honda and Subaru. Among fully autonomous cars, Waymo leads in reported incidents, with Cruise robotaxis close behind.

Ask the experts

Self-driving cars could usher in a new era for the auto and auto claims industries. We asked experts to give their insights on the potential impact self-driving cars could have in the future.