Man Claims Self-Driving Zoox Smashed His Hand, Zoox Claims the Guy Doored Their Vehicle

"Gadzooks! A new SF self-driving car controversy, this time as a man claims one of Amazon's Zoox self-driving cars hit his vehicle and smashed his hand, while Zoox instead insists that the man opened his door into incoming traffic. The bubbly-box-shaped Amazon-owned Zoox self-driving cars are seen as the Number Two player in the robotaxi industry right behind Google's Waymo, but they fell into that position more by luck than anything else."

"After the stunning collapse of Cruise, Zoox merely started offering public rides this past November, and automatically became SF's second most-prominent robotaxi company. This has somewhat concealed Zoox's problems of a collision with an SF e-bike rider this past April, and a subsequent Zoox crash into another car in Las Vegas four days later that prompted a Zoox recall of a few hundred vehicles."

"JUST IN: A Zoox autonomous car allegedly struck a San Francisco street-outreach worker in the Mission District & battered his hand. Photos from the scene showed the man's car door smashed in, & the Zoox's glass doors fractured.https://t.co/pLokRYRbRz Mission Local (@MLNow) January 17, 2026 Now Zoox seems to have another SF safety incident, though where the blame lies here is much more opaque. Mission Local reports that a man says a Zoox car his hit vehicle and smashed his hand on Saturday afternoon at about 1:30 pm in the Mission District."

A man in the Mission District of San Francisco alleges a Zoox autonomous car hit his 1977 Cadillac Coupe DeVille and smashed his hand around 1:30 pm on Saturday. Photographs show the Cadillac with damage and a Zoox vehicle with fractured glass; the Cadillac required towing. Zoox counters that the man opened his door into incoming traffic. The man is not speaking publicly; his communications are being handled by his boss at street ambassador firm Ahsing Solutions. Terrain Miller says employee Jamel Durden was closing his vehicle door when the Zoox hit the door and smashed his hand. Zoox previously had collisions with an SF e-bike rider and a Las Vegas crash that prompted a recall of a few hundred vehicles. Zoox began public rides in November and is regarded as the second-largest robotaxi operator behind Waymo.

Read at sfist.com