Robotaxi Accidents in Chicago: Who's Liable When There's No Driver?

If a self-driving car hits you in Chicago right now, Illinois law doesn't have a robotaxi-specific answer waiting for you — because there isn't a robotaxi law yet. Waymo began testing autonomous vehicles on Chicago streets in early 2026, but every one of those vehicles still has a licensed human safety driver behind the wheel, required by the executive order that governs AV testing here. No robotaxi is legally carrying paying passengers in Illinois today. A bill that would change that has been sitting in a Springfield committee since January 2026. Until it passes, a crash involving one of these vehicles gets analyzed the way any Illinois crash does: through ordinary negligence and product liability law — not a special statute that doesn't exist yet.

Quick Answer

Is there an Illinois law specifically about self-driving car accidents? No. Illinois has no autonomous-vehicle liability statute on the books yet.

Are robotaxis legally driving passengers in Chicago right now? No. Waymo's Chicago vehicles are in a testing phase, and every one has a licensed human safety driver in the seat, able to take control.

Who can be held responsible if one of these vehicles causes a crash? Potentially the safety driver and the company operating the vehicle, under ordinary negligence — and separately, the manufacturer, if a defect in the automated driving system caused or contributed to the crash.

Does being hit by a self-driving car change my basic rights? No. Illinois' two-year filing deadline and comparative-fault rule apply the same way they would in any crash.

Is a real legal framework coming? Yes. A bill is pending in Springfield that would create Illinois' first statutory permitting system for driverless commercial AV service — but as of mid-2026 it had not passed.

Are self-driving cars actually operating in Chicago?

Testing, yes. Robotaxi service carrying paying passengers, not yet.

Waymo started mapping and testing in downtown Chicago in early 2026, and every vehicle on the road has had a trained human safety driver in it — there to take the wheel if the system needs it to. That's not a Waymo policy choice; it's what Illinois currently requires. As of this writing, Waymo hadn't announced a driverless, passenger-carrying robotaxi service in Illinois. Headlines that say robotaxis "have arrived" in Chicago are describing the testing phase, which is real, and getting ahead of the part that isn't here yet.

That distinction matters for anyone hurt in a crash involving one of these vehicles today: there was almost certainly a licensed person in the driver's seat, which is a very different legal situation than a truly driverless car with no one to intervene.

What's the actual legal status of autonomous vehicles in Illinois?

Thinner than most people assume.

Illinois doesn't currently have a standalone law that comprehensively regulates autonomous vehicles. What governs AV testing on public roads today is a 2018 executive order that created the "Autonomous Illinois" initiative and directed the Illinois Department of Transportation to set up a registration system for companies that want to test connected and automated vehicles here. The baseline requirements: a licensed driver in the vehicle able to take control at all times, and insurance coverage as required by law. That's the regime Waymo's Chicago testing operates under.

A real statutory framework is pending, not enacted. A bill called the Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project Act — introduced by State Rep. Kam Buckner in January 2026, with a companion bill in the Senate — would open the door to actual commercial, driverless AV operation in Illinois' most populous counties. It has been described in Springfield reporting as stalled in committee, with lawmakers, labor unions, trial lawyers' groups, and motorcyclist safety advocates all still negotiating what it should require before it moves. Until something like it becomes law, Illinois doesn't have a purpose-built legal structure for driverless commercial service — which is the honest version of "the law hasn't caught up."

What that means practically: a crash today isn't a legal blank page. It just means the case runs on the same negligence, insurance, and product liability principles that already apply to every other Illinois car crash — because there's nothing AV-specific yet to displace them.

Who's liable if a self-driving car crashes into you?

More than one party can be, and that's actually not new — it's how a defective-brakes crash in an ordinary car already works.

The safety driver and the company operating the vehicle. As long as a human is in the seat and legally responsible for taking control, ordinary Illinois negligence law applies to that person and the company that put them there — the same as any other driver on the road. Following too closely, failing to react in time, ignoring a system alert: these are conventional negligence questions, regardless of how much automation was involved.

The manufacturer, separately, if a defect caused the crash. If the automated driving system itself — its sensors, its software, its decision-making — malfunctioned in a way that caused or contributed to the crash, Illinois product liability law is a second, independent path. Illinois has recognized strict liability for defective products since the 1960s: a manufacturer can be held liable for an unreasonably dangerous product defect that existed when it left their control and caused the injury. That doctrine wasn't written with autonomous vehicles in mind, but nothing about it requires a human hand on the wheel — it asks what was wrong with the product, not who was driving it.

These two theories aren't either/or. A serious AV crash investigation often has to run down both: was this a driving decision a reasonable person should have caught, or a failure baked into the system itself — or both? That's exactly the kind of question that benefits from getting a lawyer involved early, before the company's own data about what its vehicle did disappears.

Does Illinois' rideshare insurance law cover a robotaxi?

Genuinely unclear, and worth saying out loud rather than guessing.

Illinois' Transportation Network Providers Act requires rideshare companies to carry $1,000,000 in liability coverage during a prearranged ride — the kind of protection that's made Uber and Lyft crashes relatively predictable to handle. But that law was written around a human "driver" logging into an app. Whether it applies automatically, as written, to a ride with no driver at all is a question nobody has had to answer yet in Illinois, because no company is running that service here. If and when a true robotaxi ride-hailing service launches in Chicago, that's one of the first things worth confirming — not assuming.

Do the ordinary rules — fault and deadlines — still protect me?

Yes, and this is where being hit by a self-driving car is less unusual than it feels.

Comparative fault works exactly the same way. Illinois bars your recovery only if you're found to be more than 50% at fault for the crash — at exactly 50%, you still recover, just at half value. An insurance company or a tech company's lawyers may sound more intimidating than a stranger's insurer, but the math doesn't change because a computer was involved.

The filing deadline is the same, too. Generally, you have two years from the crash to file a personal injury claim in Illinois. If a government entity is somehow involved — a city vehicle, a public transit AV pilot — that window can shrink to one year, so don't assume the standard clock automatically applies.

What should you do if you're hit by a self-driving car?

The basics of any Chicago crash still apply — get medical care, get the other vehicle's information, get witness names, photograph everything. A few things matter more here than in an ordinary crash:

Note everything identifying the vehicle and company — the operator's name, any permit or testing decal, the vehicle's license plate, and whether a human safety driver was present and what they were doing.
Ask, in writing and immediately, that the vehicle's own data be preserved. This is the single biggest difference from an ordinary crash. A self-driving car generates an enormous amount of its own evidence in real time — camera footage, sensor logs, LiDAR data, a record of what the system "saw" and decided in the seconds before impact. That data belongs to the company, sits on the company's systems, and can be far easier to lose or overwrite than a bystander's phone video. A prompt preservation request is not optional here — it's often the case.
Don't assume the safety driver was "just a passenger." They were licensed and legally responsible for taking control. What they did or didn't do still matters.
Get medical care and document it, the same as after any crash — this part never changes.
Talk to a lawyer before giving a recorded statement to the company's insurer or claims team. These companies and their insurers move fast on data and messaging; you're allowed to move deliberately too.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a specific Illinois law about self-driving car accidents? No. Illinois doesn't currently have a standalone autonomous-vehicle liability statute. AV testing on public roads operates under a 2018 executive order requiring a licensed human safety driver, and a bill that would create a real commercial permitting framework — the Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project Act — was still pending in Springfield as of mid-2026.

Are Waymo cars in Chicago actually driverless? No, not yet. As of this writing, Waymo's Chicago testing vehicles all have a licensed human safety driver in the seat, and the company hadn't announced a driverless, passenger-carrying service in Illinois.

Who do I sue if a self-driving car hits me? Potentially more than one party. The safety driver and the company operating the vehicle can be liable under ordinary negligence, just like any other driver. Separately, if a defect in the vehicle's automated driving system caused the crash, Illinois product liability law allows a claim against the manufacturer. Both can apply to the same crash.

Does being partly at fault ruin my case if a robotaxi hits me? No. Illinois' comparative fault rule applies the same way it would in any crash: you're barred from recovering only if you're found more than 50% at fault. At exactly 50%, you still recover — at half value.

Does Illinois' rideshare insurance law cover a driverless robotaxi? That's genuinely unresolved. The Transportation Network Providers Act requires $1,000,000 in coverage during a prearranged ride, but it's written around a human driver logging into an app. Whether it applies as written to a ride with no driver hasn't been tested in Illinois, because no company is offering that service here yet.

The law behind this

Illinois has no standalone autonomous-vehicle liability statute yet. AV testing on Illinois public roads currently operates under Executive Order 2018-13 ("Autonomous Illinois"), which directed the Illinois Department of Transportation to register AV testing entities and requires a licensed safety driver able to take control of the vehicle at all times.
Pending framework, not current law — the Autonomous Vehicle Pilot Project Act (Illinois House Bill 4663, with companion Senate Bill 3392, 104th General Assembly), introduced by Rep. Kam Buckner in January 2026, would create a statutory pilot program for driverless commercial AV operation in Illinois' most populous counties. As of mid-2026 it remained pending in committee — it is not enacted law, and this article does not treat it as such.
Illinois' foundational strict products liability rule — a manufacturer can be held strictly liable for an unreasonably dangerous product defect present when the product left their control that proximately caused the injury — Suvada v. White Motor Co., 32 Ill. 2d 612, 210 N.E.2d 182 (1965).
Comparative fault — barred only if more than 50% at fault; damages diminished by the plaintiff's share — 735 ILCS 5/2-1116.
Two years from accrual, generally — 735 ILCS 5/13-202. One year against a local public entity — 745 ILCS 10/8-101(a).
Rideshare insurance floor — $1,000,000 in liability coverage during a prearranged ride — Illinois Transportation Network Providers Act, 625 ILCS 57. The Act's driver-based definitions were not written with driverless vehicles in mind; whether it applies as written to a driverless ride is unresolved as of this writing.

If you were hurt in a crash involving a self-driving car, a testing vehicle, or any other driver in Chicago, you don't have to sort out who's responsible on your own — that's exactly the kind of question worth an early phone call. See our practice areas or request a free consultation .

Lauren Rozich is a Chicago personal injury attorney with 17 years of experience helping injured Illinois residents get fair compensation. If you have questions about your case, [we offer a free consultation](/free-consultation/).