Are robotaxis legal in Illinois, and what if a Waymo test car hits you?

Chicago has self-driving cars on its streets but no robotaxi service. The cars are tested with a person in the driver's seat, so a crash with one is more familiar, legally, than it looks: a driver, a company, and a car full of cameras. For Texas and Florida, where driverless robotaxis carry riders, see our article on what to do after a robotaxi crash.

Are robotaxis legal in Illinois?

Not as driverless taxis. No Illinois law authorizes driverless operation. The Chicago mayor's office told the Chicago Sun-Times on February 25, 2026: "As of now, autonomous vehicles have not been authorized within the City of Chicago or the State of Illinois." Capitol News Illinois reported on April 7, 2026: "For now, the autonomous vehicles must be driven by a human."

One Illinois statute does mention self-driving cars, and it limits local government rather than authorizing anything. Local governments may not ban vehicles equipped with automated driving systems or regulate them inconsistently with the Illinois Vehicle Code, though their power to regulate traffic control is preserved (625 ILCS 5/11-208(e-10)). That provision does not authorize driverless operation.

Put together: Chicago cannot ban self-driving test cars on its own, and the state has not approved cars that run with no one driving.

What is Waymo doing in Chicago?

Mapping and testing, with human safety drivers. Waymo has been mapping Chicago since February 2026 and testing with human safety drivers, according to Axios Chicago (April 23, 2026). Waymo has not announced a launch date.

As of October 2026, we found no reported robotaxi crashes in Chicago. We also found no Tesla or Zoox robotaxi activity in Illinois. We will update this article if that changes.

What happened to the Illinois robotaxi bills?

They stalled, and nothing passed in the spring 2026 session. The House bill to create an autonomous vehicle pilot program, HB 4663, was re-referred to the House Rules Committee on March 27, 2026. The Senate's AV Pilot Project Act, SB 3392, stalled in committee.

The Illinoize reported on June 9, 2026 that the effort "will have to wait until at least veto session." Labor unions oppose the legislation, according to CBS Chicago (April 14, 2026).

We do not predict when, or whether, Illinois will authorize driverless robotaxis.

What if a Waymo test car hits you in Chicago?

Your claim works much like any car-crash claim, because a human safety driver is part of the picture. The safety driver may be responsible for careless driving, and the company that put the car on the road may be responsible for that driver's conduct on the job.

In plain words: when an employee is careless on the job, the employer generally answers for it. If the safety driver works through a contractor, a lawyer will want to know who hired, trained, and supervised that driver.

Who may be responsible	Why
The safety driver	Driving carelessly, or failing to take over when the car made a mistake
The company testing the car	The safety driver's conduct on the job, and how it runs its test program
The maker of the car or its self-driving system	A defect in the vehicle or software that contributed to the crash
Another human driver	Causing or contributing to the collision

The car's recorded data still matters, even with a person aboard. A test car built to drive itself carries cameras and sensors, and the company holds that record. It can help show whether the self-driving system or the safety driver was in control, how fast the car was going, and what it detected before impact. No federal law gives a crash victim a right to an autonomous vehicle company's camera, lidar, or log data. You get it through a preservation demand and, once a case is filed, court discovery.

The Driver Privacy Act of 2015 makes event data recorder data the vehicle owner's property, retrievable by others only with consent, a court order, or narrow exceptions.

If a test car hits you, do this:

1. Call 911 and get medical care. A police report and early medical records anchor the claim.
2. Photograph the car. Get the company name, any vehicle number, the license plate, the damage, and where each vehicle stopped.
3. Get the safety driver's information. Ask for the driver's name, the company's name, and insurance information, the same as with any driver.
4. Write down what you saw. Note whether the safety driver seemed to be steering or the car seemed to be driving itself, and anything said at the scene.
5. Find witnesses. Get names, phone numbers, and any phone or dashcam video.
6. Demand the data in writing. Have a lawyer send a preservation letter. Our guide to getting self-driving car crash video and sensor data covers what to ask for.

How long do you have to file, and what if you were partly at fault?

Two years for most personal injury claims in Illinois (735 ILCS 5/13-202). The vehicle data may not last that long, so the work should start right away. Have a lawyer confirm your deadline, because exceptions exist.

Being partly at fault does not automatically end an Illinois claim, but there is a cutoff. If you are more than 50% at fault, you are barred from recovering (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). Fault percentages are often disputed in crashes like these, and the test car's own cameras can settle questions about speed, lanes, and signals.

What if the company loses or deletes the crash data?

Illinois treats negligent loss of evidence as a kind of negligence claim, not a separate wrong of its own. To win it, you must show that the other side had a duty to preserve the evidence, that it breached that duty, that the loss left you unable to prove an otherwise valid case, and damages (Boyd v. Travelers Ins. Co., 166 Ill. 2d 188 (1995)).

Courts may also sanction a party that destroyed evidence before a lawsuit was filed, under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 219(c) (Shimanovsky v. General Motors Corp., 181 Ill. 2d 112 (1998)).

The duty-to-preserve element is why a written preservation demand should go out quickly. A letter makes it hard for a company to say it did not know the data mattered.

What if you were hurt in an Uber or Lyft in Illinois?

Illinois's rideshare law covers that. The Transportation Network Providers Act (625 ILCS 57) requires $1 million in coverage during a ride and 50/100/25 coverage while a driver is logged on. It also requires criminal background and sex-offender registry checks, and a zero-tolerance drug and alcohol policy with immediate suspension when a complaint is made. The Act is scheduled for repeal on September 1, 2028 (§ 34).

These rules apply to human rideshare drivers. No driverless rideshare service is authorized in Illinois. Our article on who pays after an Uber or Lyft accident compares the coverage tiers state by state.

Are self-driving cars safer than human drivers?

Waymo's published numbers say its cars crash less, though most of that data comes from Waymo itself. Through June 2026, Waymo reports 271.3 million rider-only miles and, against human-driver benchmarks over the same miles, 82% fewer injury-causing crashes, 95% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes, 82% fewer airbag-deployment crashes, and 93% fewer pedestrian-injury crashes (Waymo safety impact page, fetched October 10, 2026).

An independent IIHS study (July 2026) found 68% fewer police-reportable crashes per mile across San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, though the Austin rate alone, from a small sample, was 4% higher than human drivers, according to secondary reports of that study.

None of that data comes from Chicago. Our article on how many robotaxi crashes have been reported covers the reported numbers.

Sources

• Chicago Sun-Times, February 25, 2026: the Chicago mayor's office statement.
• Capitol News Illinois, April 7, 2026: Waymo testing in Chicago and "must be driven by a human."
• Axios Chicago, April 23, 2026: Waymo mapping and testing with safety drivers.
• The Illinoize, June 9, 2026: bill status and the veto session.
• CBS Chicago, April 14, 2026: union opposition.
• Waymo Safety Impact, fetched October 10, 2026: Waymo's own safety figures.
• IIHS (July 2026), as reported by Recording Law: the independent safety comparison.
• Illinois statutes and rules: 625 ILCS 5/11-208(e-10); 625 ILCS 57; 735 ILCS 5/13-202; 735 ILCS 5/2-1116; Ill. S. Ct. R. 219(c).
• Illinois spoliation standards: Boyd v. Travelers Ins. Co., 166 Ill. 2d 188 (1995); Shimanovsky v. General Motors Corp., 181 Ill. 2d 112 (1998).
• Federal EDR ownership rule: Driver Privacy Act of 2015.

Working with GB Law

Gianna Scatchell Basile is licensed to practice law in Illinois. GB Law starts with the facts and tells you which claims you have. Where a claim belongs with a trial firm or another attorney we work with, we make the introduction, and you will know who is handling what and how any fee is divided before you sign anything. If your matter arose outside Illinois, we can help you find a lawyer licensed where it happened.

Questions people ask

Is there a person in the Waymo cars I see in Chicago?

Yes, according to reports on Waymo's testing. Waymo has been testing in Chicago with human safety drivers, according to Axios Chicago (April 23, 2026), and Capitol News Illinois reported that for now the cars "must be driven by a human." If one is involved in a crash, get the safety driver's name and the company's information, just as you would with any other driver.

When will robotaxis launch in Chicago?

No launch date has been announced, and we do not predict one. No Illinois law authorizes driverless operation, and the Chicago mayor's office said in February 2026 that autonomous vehicles have not been authorized in the city or the state. The pilot program bills, HB 4663 and SB 3392, stalled in the spring 2026 session, and labor unions oppose them, according to CBS Chicago.

Can I get the camera footage from a Waymo test car?

Usually not on your own. No federal law gives a crash victim a right to an autonomous vehicle company's camera, lidar, or log data. Injured people get it through a written preservation demand and, after a lawsuit is filed, court discovery. In the meantime, save your own photos, any dashcam video, and witness videos, because those are records you control.

Is Tesla or Zoox running robotaxis in Illinois?

We found no Tesla or Zoox robotaxi activity in Illinois as of October 2026. The only self-driving testing we found in Chicago is Waymo's, which uses human safety drivers, according to Axios Chicago. If a different company's test car is involved in a crash, the same Illinois injury rules apply: two years to file in most cases, and the car's data should be preserved.

Have any robotaxis crashed in Chicago?

We found no reported robotaxi crashes in Chicago as of October 2026. If you are hurt by a self-driving test car, the claim runs under ordinary Illinois injury law: two years to file in most cases (735 ILCS 5/13-202), and no recovery if you are more than 50% at fault (735 ILCS 5/2-1116). The company's recorded data is often the most important evidence.

Can Chicago ban self-driving cars?

No. Illinois law bars local governments from banning vehicles equipped with automated driving systems or regulating them inconsistently with the Illinois Vehicle Code, though local power over traffic control is preserved (625 ILCS 5/11-208(e-10)). That provision does not authorize driverless operation, which no Illinois law currently allows.