Article Summary
Waymo robotaxis crash 68% less often than human drivers, with only 1.28 police-reportable crashes per million miles compared to 4.06 for human drivers, according to Insurance Institute for Highway Safety research analyzing nearly 50 million miles of autonomous vehicle operation.
- Waymo robotaxis recorded a 68% lower overall crash rate than human drivers in the same cities and time periods
- Autonomous vehicles were involved in 91% fewer rear-end collisions and 81% fewer injury crashes than human drivers
- The study analyzed 1,692 federal crash records from July 2021 through December 2024 involving Level 4 automated vehicles
- Researchers identified 159 police-reportable incidents out of 736 total incidents reviewed, with only 64 involving Waymo vehicles
- Waymo's crash rate was 76% lower in Phoenix, 71% lower in Los Angeles, and 35% lower in San Francisco
Waymo robotaxis rear-ended other vehicles 91% less often and were involved in 81% fewer injury crashes than human drivers, according to new U.S. research.
Researchers at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety calculated 1.28 police-reportable crashes per million driverless Waymo miles. Human drivers recorded 4.06 crashes per million miles in the same cities and years, giving Waymo a 68% lower overall crash rate.
The robotaxis were also involved in 85% fewer single-vehicle crashes, 77% fewer sideswipes and 61% fewer T-bone and angle crashes. Their rate of being rear-ended was 40% lower.
Researchers reviewed 1,692 federal crash records involving Waymo, Cruise, Zoox and other Level 4 automated vehicles from July 2021 through December 2024.
After removing duplicate reports, they identified 977 separate incidents. They then excluded crashes on private property, incidents in which a person was driving manually and events that did not qualify as crashes. That left 736 incidents.
The three researchers read each incident report and judged whether an ordinary driver would probably have reported the crash to police. They considered the impact, damage, injuries, towing and airbag deployment. At least two researchers had to agree on each classification.
Only 159 incidents, or 22%, were judged police-reportable or potentially police-reportable. The list included 89 Waymo crashes, 50 Cruise crashes, 10 Zoox crashes and 10 involving other operators.
Only Waymo published enough mileage data for a direct comparison. Researchers counted 64 police-reportable crashes during almost 50 million miles of fully driverless operation. They compared those results with 900,509 police-reported crashes during about 222 billion human-driven miles.
Waymo’s crash rate was 76% lower in Phoenix, 71% lower in Los Angeles and 35% lower in San Francisco. It was 4% higher in Austin, where the researchers had only about 555,000 Waymo miles to examine.
The comparison excluded interstates and freeways because Waymo did not operate on them during the study period. The results apply only to Waymo vehicles operating without a driver in limited areas of four U.S. cities.
“Those are encouraging signs for the future of driverless vehicles,” said Eric Teoh, IIHS director of statistical services and lead author of the study.
