Waymo Data Shows 95% Fewer Serious Accidents Than Human Drivers Across 271M Miles
Waymo released safety data analyzing 271 million miles of driverless operation across five major US cities, revealing a 95% reduction in serious injury accidents compared to human driver benchmarks. The data showed 841 fewer injury-causing accidents overall, alongside steep drops in collisions involving pedestrians (93%), cyclists (86%), and motorcyclists (82%). This extensive dataset provides strong empirical evidence that commercial autonomous taxi fleets can operate significantly more safely than human drivers in complex urban environments. The findings offer critical safety metrics to assist lawmakers, regulators, and the general public in evaluating the commercial deployment of autonomous vehicles. The safety advantage of autonomous vehicles may be even higher than reported, as commercial operators must report every minor collision while an estimated 60% of property-damage-only and 32% of injury accidents caused by human drivers go unreported. Waymo also demonstrated its collision-avoidance capabilities through video footage showing vehicles stopping for sudden jaywalkers and night-time red-light runners.
## BACKGROUND
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, operates fully driverless commercial ride-hailing services (Robotaxis) in US cities including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta. High-profile media coverage of rare autonomous vehicle incidents often fuels public skepticism, making empirical safety comparisons against human baseline statistics vital for regulatory approval.