File Identity
SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADS.csv is published by NHTSA under Standing General Order 2021-01, which requires manufacturers and operators of ADS-equipped vehicles to report crashes meeting specific severity thresholds. The ADS file covers SAE Level 3, 4, and 5 systems — vehicles where the automation, not the human driver, is responsible for the driving task during the engaged period.1,2,3
NHTSA issued the order on June 29, 2021 and has amended it three times, most recently in April 2025. The current public CSV is a rolling file. Earlier incident records are preserved in a separate Archive file covering the 2021–2025 period.1,4
Key Fields
The CSV contains a single row per incident report with more than 100 columns. The fields below are the most relevant for crash frequency, automation engagement, injury outcomes, and geographic analysis. Many fields use boolean flags for multi-value attributes such as roadway conditions, weather, and data availability.2,3
| Field | Common use in analysis |
|---|---|
| Report ID | Unique identifier for each submitted incident report. Used to distinguish individual submissions and link report versions. |
| Reporting Entity | Company or organization that submitted the report — for example, Waymo LLC or Zoox. The primary grouping variable for entity-level analysis. |
| Make / Model / Model Year | Vehicle identification fields for the ADS-equipped subject vehicle involved in the incident. |
| Automation System Engaged? | Whether the ADS was engaged at the time of the crash. Central variable for determining whether automation was actively controlling the vehicle. |
| Engagement Status | More granular coding of the system status at the time of the incident: engaged, transitioning, not engaged, or unknown. |
| Incident Date / Incident Time | Date and time of the incident, used for temporal trend analysis and cross-referencing other records. |
| State / City / Latitude / Longitude | Location fields for the incident. Latitude and longitude support geographic mapping; state and city provide categorical filters. |
| Highest Injury Severity Alleged | Severity of the most serious injury in the incident: None, Possible, Nonincapacitating, Incapacitating, or Fatal. Primary outcome variable for injury analysis. |
| Within ODD? | Whether the ADS was operating within its Operational Design Domain at the time of the crash — a critical field for assessing whether the system was used as intended. |
| Crash With | What or whom the subject vehicle collided with: another motor vehicle, pedestrian, cyclist, fixed object, or other. |
| SV Precrash Speed (MPH) | Speed of the subject vehicle immediately before the crash. Field may be marked as Confidential Business Information in some reports. |
| Narrative | Free-text description of the incident submitted by the reporting entity. Portions claimed as Confidential Business Information are redacted. |
ADS vs. ADAS: This file covers SAE Level 3–5 only. Level 2 systems — which require the human driver to remain in control and supervise at all times — are reported in a separate file: SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADAS.csv.
How Daily Driver Advocate Uses It
Daily Driver Advocate uses the official NHTSA CSV as a primary source when documenting ADS crash trends. Derived summaries are published with explicit notes on the rolling nature of the file and the distinction between ADS and Level 2 ADAS incidents.1,2
FARS2024NationalCSV.zip Source Card
The NHTSA fatal crash census — a different collection program from the SGO, covering all fatal crashes regardless of automation involvement.
FARS vs. CRSS: Which Dataset Should You Use?
Explains when to use the fatal-crash census versus the all-severity crash sample — context helpful for understanding how the SGO ADS file differs from both.
Common Research Uses
This file is useful when a researcher needs the official NHTSA record of ADS-involved crashes rather than a news summary or third-party aggregator.1,2,3
Count ADS-involved crashes by year, reporting entity, state, or vehicle model.
Determine what share of incidents occurred while the ADS was actively engaged versus disengaged.
Assess whether incidents happened inside or outside the Operational Design Domain.
Analyze injury severity distribution across ADS incident reports.
Track reporting trends from each ADS operator since the SGO took effect in June 2021.
Cross-reference ADS incidents with NHTSA FARS fatal crash records for overlapping fatality events.
Important Limitations
This page is a source card for an official federal dataset. It is not a government page, legal advice, or a substitute for the NHTSA file and its data dictionary. The SGO ADS incident file is not a census of all ADS-related crashes; it captures only incidents meeting the reporting thresholds defined in the Standing General Order.
- This file covers SAE Level 3–5 ADS only. Level 2 ADAS incidents — systems requiring the human driver to remain in control and supervise — are in the separate SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADAS.csv file.
- The current public CSV is a rolling file covering a specific 12-month window. Earlier records are preserved in the Archive-2021-2025 file at the same NHTSA server path.
- Reports are self-submitted by manufacturers and operators, not independently verified crash investigations. Some narrative fields and data elements may be redacted as Confidential Business Information.
- Not every ADS-involved incident is reportable. The SGO sets severity thresholds including property damage, injury, fatality, and airbag deployment before reporting is required.
- The file does not capture near-misses, minor incidents below the reporting threshold, or incidents voluntarily withdrawn from the public record.
- Crash counts in this file are not directly comparable to NHTSA FARS crash counts. FARS is a census of all fatal crashes; the SGO ADS file is a mandatory self-report for a defined subset of ADS incidents.
Suggested Citation
For the raw dataset, cite NHTSA as the issuing agency and link to the official file. For this explanatory card, cite Daily Driver Advocate as the independent research project that documented the source.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADS.csv. Standing General Order 2021-01 ADS incident report data. https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/ffdd/sgo-2021-01/SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADS.csv
Primary Source Directory
- Standing General Order on Crash ReportingIssuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- SGO-2021-01_Incident_Reports_ADS.csv official downloadIssuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- SGO-2021-01 Data Element Definitions (data dictionary, updated June 15, 2026)Issuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
- Archive ADS incident reports (2021–2025)Issuing authority: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration