A recent study conducted by the U.S. Insurance Institute for Highway Safety revealed that Waymo driverless vehicles were involved in 68% fewer accidents than human drivers in a span of three years across four major U.S. cities. The study reported 89 police-recorded crashes involving Waymo in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin between 2021 and 2024. In comparison, there were 901,525 police-reported crashes caused by human drivers in the same cities during the same period, excluding incidents on interstates and highways.
The research highlighted that 72% of the Waymo-involved crashes occurred while the vehicle was operating autonomously, with about half of them carrying passengers. The study also compared the distance driven, indicating that Waymo covered approximately 80 million kilometers autonomously, while human drivers covered 355 billion kilometers in the same areas over three years.
The study’s analysis showed that Waymo vehicles had a crash rate of 1.28 crashes per million vehicle miles traveled, significantly lower than the human driver crash rate of 4.06 crashes per million vehicle miles traveled, marking a 68% reduction in crash rates for Waymo vehicles.
Data for the study was gathered from police records, Waymo, and federal databases to analyze Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle performance. The study also emphasized that crashes involving autonomous vehicles must be reported promptly according to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations.
Waymo, operational in 11 U.S. states, has future plans to expand to the United Kingdom and Japan while also aiming to establish programs in Canada. However, challenges exist in breaking into the Canadian market due to regulatory hurdles and concerns about job security. Additionally, Canadian climates, particularly harsh winters, pose obstacles for autonomous vehicle operations in the country.
Despite the promising safety results, skepticism remains about the reliability of autonomous vehicles, particularly following viral incidents of technical challenges faced by Waymo vehicles. Experts acknowledge that autonomous vehicles are still in the learning phase and may not be fully integrated into daily transportation routines until around 2030.