Nissan Driver Hospitalized After Crash With Empty Zoox Robotaxi on Las Vegas Strip

A Nissan SUV and a driverless Zoox robotaxi with no one aboard collided on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday morning, sending the SUV's driver to a hospital on the same day a state limit on the size of Zoox's Nevada fleet was set to expire.

Priya Nair, Safety · Sept. 26, 2026 · 4 min

Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS - A Nissan SUV and a driverless Zoox robotaxi with no one aboard collided on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday morning, sending the SUV's driver to a hospital on the same day a state limit on the size of Zoox's Nevada fleet was set to expire.

The crash happened on southbound Las Vegas Boulevard at Four Seasons Drive, near the south end of the Strip, and involved a silver Nissan Murano and an autonomous Zoox vehicle, the Nevada Highway Patrol said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The Nissan's driver was taken to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, the agency said. State police described the injuries as minor and to the upper body, KTNV and KSNV reported.

No one was inside the Zoox at the time of the collision, police told FOX5. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department first responded at about 8:19 a.m., and state troopers, who arrived at about 9:01 a.m., then took over the investigation, the station reported. Several southbound lanes were closed while troopers worked the scene and towed both vehicles. The lanes have since reopened.

Investigators have not said what caused the crash or which vehicle was at fault. No statement from Zoox had appeared in local coverage as of Saturday evening. KTNV said it had asked the company for comment.

The collision came on Sept. 25, the date a Nevada Transportation Authority permit limiting Zoox to 100 vehicles in the state was set to expire, TechCrunch reported last week, citing an authority official and a Zoox spokesperson. The permit, dated July 16, also confines Zoox's service to an approved geofence in Clark County and requires the authority's prior approval for any expansion of that map.

Zoox, a subsidiary of Amazon, builds its robotaxis without a steering wheel or pedals. It began charging for rides in Las Vegas in August after receiving a temporary exemption from certain federal vehicle safety standards from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which allows it to deploy up to 2,500 vehicles a year for two years, TechCrunch reported. Las Vegas is the only city where the company charges fares. A Zoox spokesperson declined to tell TechCrunch how many robotaxis operate there, and the data firm Robotaxi Tracker estimated more than 30.

It is not the first recent crash involving an empty Zoox in the Las Vegas area. On Aug. 25, a Ford 4Runner struck an unoccupied Zoox from behind at Decatur Boulevard and Russell Road, Hoodline reported. Zoox said its vehicle had stopped to yield to an approaching emergency vehicle.

The roads around the Strip are filling with driverless cars. In August, the transportation authority approved permits for Tesla, Uber and Waymo that together could bring up to 7,000 robotaxis to Clark County over 12 months, according to TechCrunch. Waymo opened its service to customers in Las Vegas earlier this month.

Priya Nair, Safety. Priya Nair is a senior correspondent covering AV safety, regulators, and investigations. Previously covered transport policy for national outlets; based in Washington.