--- title: "Self-Driving Waymo Cab Smashes Into Delivery Robot" description: "A video appears to show the future of transportation: a Waymo robotaxi smashing into a Serve Robotics delivery robot." date: "2025-01-02" modified: "2025-01-02" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robotaxi-smashes-delivery-robot" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Robotics" - "Robots and Machines" - "Self-Driving Vehicles" tags: - "delivery robots" - "robotaxis" - "the digest" - "waymo" --- # Self-Driving Waymo Cab Smashes Into Delivery Robot ![A video appears to show the future of transportation: a Waymo robotaxi smashing into a Serve Robotics delivery robot.]() *\Image: mingoslingo92\* ## Friendly Fire A video [shared on social media]() appears to depict the prelude to an inter-robot-species conflict. The belligerents? A [Waymo robotaxi]() and a Serve Robotics [delivery robot](), [according to *TechCrunch*](). The footage, taken in Los Angeles from a dashcam, shows the Serve robot puttering along a crosswalk at night before stopping in front of a curb on the opposite side of the street, taking a moment to adjust itself so it can roll up the small ramp to get onto the sidewalk. Then a Waymo cab comes careening around the corner, T-boning the delivery bot right as it was making its final push. The fates, it seems, were feeling cruel that day. ## Curb Stomp Or were they? As it turns out, the impact wasn't too severe. The Waymo cab, to its credit, hit the brakes immediately and avoided knocking the poor little thing over. And moments later, while the robotaxi is still in a daze, the Serve robot drives away like nothing happened. Maybe it was fleeing guiltily. According to the person who shot the video, the Serve robot had run a red light moments before getting hit by the robotaxi. Still, you'd expect the Waymo cab to be on the lookout for such cases. Pedestrians will often cross the street regardless of what the light indicates, as any urban drivers know. The problem, apparently, was that the Serve robot wasn't a pedestrian. Waymo told *TechCrunch* that its driver system had seen the delivery bot and correctly identified it as an inanimate object — and such is the disdain the autonomous vehicle harbors towards its Fellow Robot — so it didn't exercise the level of caution it would around human beings as it's programmed to do. When the delivery bot unexpectedly stopped before the curb as the Waymo cab was rounding the intersection, it was too late to avoid a collision entirely. But Waymo says the driver system was able to apply hard braking before impact, so it only hit the Serve robot at four miles per hour. ## Crisis Averted Since both parties came out relatively unscathed, there probably won't be a lot of complications from the incident. But it could have easily resulted in a much thornier situation, and is a preview of difficult questions surrounding the liability for machine employees as more robots, fully autonomous or otherwise, hit the streets. What if serious damage had occurred? Which robot, and which company, would be to blame? And if humans were in the loop, what share of the blame would they hold? In this case, Serve told *TechCrunch* that the robot was under remote human supervision at the time. The Waymo was driving autonomously with no passengers on board, but it's unclear if remote teleoperators were alerted to the accident or took over following the collision. **More on robotaxis:** *[Hilarious Video Shows Waymo Self-Driving Taxi Stuck in Roundabout]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()