Waymo’s fully driverless vehicles were involved in 68% fewer police-reportable crashes per vehicle mile traveled than human drivers across four U.S. cities, according to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
Waymo Autonomous Vehicles Record 68% Fewer Crashes Than Human Drivers in IIHS Study
The research analyzed crashes involving autonomous vehicles between 2021 and 2024, comparing Waymo’s fleet with conventional human-driven vehicles operating in the same locations, according to electriccarsreport.com. Researchers removed duplicate reports, non-public-road incidents, and events where automation was not engaged, focusing exclusively on crashes a typical driver would likely report to police.
During the study period, Waymo’s fully driverless fleet accumulated approximately 50 million miles of autonomous driving, as reported by electriccarsreport.com. Meanwhile, CBC noted the numbers translated to about 80 million kilometres of driverless Waymo operation compared with 355 billion kilometres by human drivers in the same places over a three-year period.
Quantified in terms of crashes per million vehicle miles traveled, human drivers had a crash rate of 4.06 while Waymo vehicles sat at 1.28, according to CBC.
City-by-City Performance and Injury Reductions
Safety performance varied by location across the four cities included in the study, according to electriccarsreport.com:
* Phoenix: 76% fewer crashes * Los Angeles: 71% fewer crashes * San Francisco: 35% fewer crashes * Austin: 4% higher crash rate, with researchers noting the sample size there remains too small for meaningful conclusions
Compared with human drivers, Waymo’s vehicles also experienced 85% fewer single-vehicle crashes and 81% fewer injury crashes, according to electriccarsreport.com. Eric Teoh, director of statistical services at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, told CBC News that Waymo’s vehicles were involved less often than human-driven vehicles in crashes causing injuries or fatalities, and described the types of crashes as less egregious.
David Harkey, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, stated that the results demonstrate driverless vehicles can outperform human drivers who remain vulnerable to distraction, fatigue, impairment, and other human errors.
Broader Industry Context and Data Limitations
Despite the findings, researchers emphasized that current crash reporting systems make it difficult to accurately compare autonomous vehicles with human drivers, according to electriccarsreport.com. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has required companies operating automated driving systems to report crashes under a Standing General Order since 2021, and California has maintained similar requirements since 2014, companies are generally not required to disclose how many miles their vehicles travel or whether those miles were driven autonomously or under human supervision.
Separately, a report published by traffic expert Sam Schwartz’s research program at Hunter College and Open Plans argued that Waymo taxis cause more fatal crashes and injuries per mile driven than for-hire vehicles in New York City when benchmarked against the city’s fleet, according to Gothamist. Waymo questioned that research team’s methodology and criteria for serious injuries, with Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher stating that meaningful safety analysis should compare apples-to-apples data and cautioned against extrapolating Waymo’s safety performance from one place to another.
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