Waymo’s robotaxis are now safer than human drivers, according to an analysis of data from self-driving juggernaut Waymo — in spite of headlines about automated vehicles causing chaos on some city streets.
The Alphabet subsidiary’s driverless cars crash 68% less often than human drivers, according to a recently published study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit focused on reducing deaths, injuries and property damage from vehicle crashes.
The study indicates the self-driving tech – which has long been touted as a game-changer as more than 1 million people die each year in traffic accidents – has been making strides.
The study compared the rate at which Waymo-run and human-operated vehicles were involved in crashes in Phoenix, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin. Waymo’s rate was 76% lower than the human rate in Phoenix, 71% lower in LA and 35% lower in San Francisco. Humans bested Waymos by 4% in Austin.
Waymo leads the autonomous ride-hailing market with 577 registered driverless vehicles and roughly 500,000 paid rides each week across 10 cities.
The high safety marks for Waymo come after incidents like a number of Waymos getting clogged on San Francisco streets over the summer, leaving thousands to hoof it home on foot during a disastrous July Fourth celebration. One Waymo appeared to drive directly through an exploding firework while its passengers watched in horror.
The Post has sought comment from Waymo.
Comparing robot-car accident data with that of human drivers isn’t a perfect match and the study had to account for numerous data challenges, the authors wrote.
The study’s sample was restricted to crashes that a person would typically report to the police and analyzed crash rates of driverless cars from 2021 to 2024.
According to the study, of Waymo’s 89 police-reportable crashes, 64 were in driverless mode, while the other crashes involved supervised use of automation.
Waymo vehicles traveled about 50 million miles in driverless operation over the study period, compared to about 222 billion miles by human drivers over the same period and in the same locations. To account for the disparity in miles travelled, the study tracked crashes on a per-vehicle-mile-traveled basis, or VMT.
When examining single-vehicle crashes, Waymos were involved in 85% fewer crashes and 81% fewer injury crashes per VMT than human drivers, according to the study.
“The results show that, on a limited scale, these driverless cars are safer than human drivers — who can be impaired or drowsy or suffer lapses in attention,” IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement. “However, the present data collection system isn’t good enough to allow continuous monitoring of a large-scale expansion.”
While the data being shared by autonomous vehicle companies is promising, safety experts like Johns Hopkins University’s Johnathon Ehsani have said the lack of uniform comparison makes it difficult to compare self-driving car safety to human drivers.
Waymo, launched in 2009 as a Google autonomous car project, operates as a ride-share service and mostly uses Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles equipped with lidar, radar and cameras.
The study said it accounted for the fact that companies operating driverless cars are required to report every bump and scrape, including hitting a curb, while many human fender-benders are never reported. Most states require a driver to report to police a crash that involves an injury or at least $1,000 in property damage, on average.
If an airbag deployed in a driverless car, it was recorded. If it were a fender bender with no reported damage and no injury, it was excluded, the researchers said.
More lawmakers are turning their attention to robotaxis, with Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.) pushing to direct federal regulators to establish minimum national safety standards for autonomous vehicles. His rules would aim to prevent such vehicles from impeding emergency operations.
“This legislation will give local government and autonomous vehicle companies a clearer framework for coordinating during an emergencies and unexpected disruptions,” San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, a Dem, said at a press conference following the July Fourth snafu.