Hit by a Waymo or Tesla Robotaxi in Tampa? What Florida Law Says

Driverless taxis now carry paying riders in Tampa. As of this writing, Waymo and Tesla both run driverless ride services there, and Waymo has been testing across the bay in Pinellas County. If one of those cars hits you, the crash looks like any other car accident right up until you walk over to talk to the driver and find an empty seat. Florida has written rules for that moment, and a few of them surprise people.

If you were hurt in a St. Petersburg or Pinellas County crash, start with my St. Petersburg car accident lawyer page. For other kinds of injuries, see my St. Petersburg personal injury lawyer page.

Florida treats the computer as the operator

Florida lets a fully autonomous car drive with nobody inside it and no licensed human operator at all. When the self-driving system is engaged, the traffic code treats that system as the operator of the car, whether or not a person happens to be sitting in it. That rule settles who was driving for purposes of Florida’s traffic laws. The question of who pays for your injuries runs through the ordinary rules of fault and insurance, applied to the facts of your crash.

Depending on what went wrong, responsibility can sit with another human driver who caused the crash, with the company that owns and runs the robotaxi, or with the maker of a part or the software, if a defect played a role. More than one of those can be true at once. Sorting that out starts with the evidence, and in these cases the company holds most of it.

The car does not have to hand over its information

After an ordinary crash, a Florida driver has to give a name, address and registration number, show a license on request, and help get anyone who is hurt to medical care. Florida excuses a fully autonomous car with the system engaged from that duty, and from the duty to report the crash to police, as long as the owner or someone acting for the owner promptly contacts law enforcement, or the car itself can alert law enforcement. So you may never get a name or an insurance card at the scene.

That puts the job of building the record on you. Call 911 yourself and make sure a crash report is written, and get the report number before you leave. Photograph the car, its plate, any fleet number or company name on the body, and the street around it. If you were riding in the robotaxi, screenshot the trip in the app before anything changes.

The coverage: one million dollars, PIP and uninsured motorist

A fully autonomous car that is logged on to a ride network, or carrying a prearranged ride, has to be covered by a policy with at least one million dollars in primary liability coverage for death, bodily injury and property damage. The same policy has to carry personal injury protection at Florida’s minimums and uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. The owner’s policy, the network’s policy, or a mix of the two can meet that requirement.

That requirement is tied to the car being logged on to the network or on a prearranged ride. The car’s status at the moment of the crash matters, the same way the app status decides coverage in an Uber or Lyft crash. Your own PIP coverage may come into play too, and Florida’s 14-day window to get medical care still applies, so see a doctor right away.

Ask whether a remote operator was in control

Florida also allows a self-driving car to run with no one inside while a teleoperation system is engaged, which means a person somewhere else can be watching or steering the car. Whether a remote operator was involved at the moment of your crash is one of the first things I want to know, because it changes whose decisions are being judged. The answer sits in the company’s records.

The evidence sits with the company

A driverless car records far more than an ordinary car does. Its cameras, sensors, trip logs and remote assistance records can show what the car saw, what it decided and when. All of that belongs to the company whose car hit you. A written demand to preserve it should go out early, before routine deletion schedules run, and I send that letter as one of the first steps in a case like this.

Two Florida rules that still apply

A driverless car does not change Florida’s deadline. A negligence claim generally has to be filed within two years, and the statute of limitations page explains how that clock works. Florida’s fault rule still applies too: if you are found more than 50 percent at fault for your own injuries, you cannot recover damages, so expect the company to look hard at what you were doing at the moment of the crash.

If a driverless car hit you in Tampa Bay

Call 911 and get the crash report number. Photograph the car, the plate, the fleet markings and the scene, and screenshot the trip if you were a rider. Get medical care the same day and get the names of witnesses. And do not give a recorded statement to the company or its insurer before you have talked to a lawyer.

These cases turn on records the company controls, the coverage that applied at that moment, and who or what was making the driving decisions. I represent the people hurt in these crashes, not the companies or their insurers. If a robotaxi hurt you anywhere across the Gulf Coast, here is how I handle Florida car crash claims, and if you were a passenger, my rideshare accident page covers the ride-network side.

Keep reading