Alphabet Inc.-backed (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG) Waymo robotaxis recorded 68% fewer police-reportable crashes per mile than human drivers across four U.S. markets, an independent study found, though Austin emerged as the only city where the autonomous fleet posted a higher rate.
Waymo Outperforms Humans In Three Cities
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety analyzed about 50 million fully driverless Waymo miles logged from 2021 through 2024 in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, comparing them with roughly 222 billion human-driven miles in the same places and years.
Waymo’s crash rate came in 76% below human drivers in Phoenix, 71% lower in Los Angeles and 35% lower in San Francisco. Austin’s rate was 4% higher, but lead researcher Eric Teoh said the smaller sample prevented a firm conclusion.
"What we’re seeing is a nice pattern — fewer crashes overall, less egregious types of crashes, and less severe crashes," Teoh said in a press release.
The study found 81% fewer injury crashes and 85% fewer single-vehicle crashes per mile. Waymo vehicles were also 91% less likely to rear-end another vehicle and 40% less likely to be rear-ended.
Waymo welcomed the analysis. "More high-quality data is fundamental for building public trust in this technology and ultimately making roads safer for everyone," the company said in a statement shared with ABC News.
Critics Say Crash Data Misses Risks
Still, the results do not settle every safety question. San Jose State University professor Ahmed Banafa said crash data can miss unsafe behavior that does not end in a collision, pointing to recent San Francisco robotaxi gridlock.
"They have to be open about everything, the good and the bad and the ugly," Banafa said.
IIHS raised similar reporting concerns. Researchers manually reviewed federal crash narratives to determine which incidents a typical driver would report to police, a process the institute said would become impractical as fleets grow. NHTSA requires automated-driving operators to report certain crashes, but IIHS said national mileage and incident data need greater consistency.
Federal Investigations Keep Scrutiny On Waymo
Waymo also remains under federal scrutiny. NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating a Waymo vehicle that struck a child near a California school and reports of robotaxis passing stopped school buses in Austin.
Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA), another major player in the autonomous driving space, has also been advancing its robotaxi ambitions but has recently taken a more cautious approach to deployment. The company has scaled back aspects of its rollout timeline to prioritize safety improvements and system reliability, reflecting broader industry pressure to demonstrate robust safeguards before expanding fully driverless services.
Benzinga edge rankings indicate that GOOG stock has a Momentum score in the 87th percentile and a Growth score in the 89th percentile.
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