Dive Brief:
- Waymo driverless vehicles were involved in 68% fewer crashes than human drivers in the same areas and years, according to an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety report published this month.
- From 2021 to 2024, Waymo vehicles in driverless operation were involved in 1.28 reportable crashes per million vehicle miles traveled in four cities, compared with 4.06 crashes per VMT for human drivers, the report found.
- “This new IIHS research underscores why these technologies should be judged by consistent data collected over millions of miles, not by overreactions caused by a single viral video, isolated incident, or perception of a lack of safety that isn’t supported by data,” Governors Highway Safety Association CEO Jonathan Adkins said in a statement.
Dive Insight:
Looking at specific types of crashes, the IIHS study found that Waymo robotaxis’ rate of rear-ending another vehicle was 91% lower and their rate of being rear-ended was 40% lower than human drivers.
Waymo “is maintaining a level of safety as its technology develops” in locations where its vehicles can safely operate in autonomous mode, the report concluded.
That doesn’t make them perfect. Waymo vehicles have been seen driving into flooded streets, passing stopped school buses and impeding emergency vehicles. News of those incidents might be overshadowing the bigger picture of the vehicles’ safety compared with human-driven vehicles, however.
“For years, we have expected autonomous vehicles (AVs) to be flawless while quietly accepting a human driving record that kills more than 36,000 people on our roads every year,” GHSA’s Adkins said. “This research is a powerful reminder that progress, not perfection, must be the standard for AVs, just as it has been for seat belts, airbags, automatic emergency braking and every other safety technology that eventually earned the public’s trust.”
The IIHS report cautioned that the findings may not apply to future areas where Waymo may operate its self-driving vehicles or to other robotaxi companies. Other companies operating autonomous vehicles “do not release [vehicle miles traveled] figures or release only very limited ones and there is currently no national requirement to report VMT,” the report states.
“As AVs become more common, federal, state and local safety officials must have the tools and information they need to monitor performance, identify emerging safety issues and respond effectively,” Adkins said.
