Waymo: 13x Lower Rate of Serious Injury or Fatality

Waymo’s biggest argument for why it should exist and why it needs to grow is that it protects human life. While you can claim Waymo hasn’t logged enough miles to prove anything, it does have nearly 200 million fully autonomous miles under its belt and the stats so far imply a much better safety record than the average human. And this is apparently controlling for the driving conditions.

“Waymo has released new data indicating that the Waymo Driver continues to make roads safer in the places in which we operate,” Waymo wrote last week.

“A new analysis covers over 170 million fully autonomous miles—an equivalent of 200 human lifetimes of driving. The data shows that regardless of fault, the Waymo Driver was involved in 92% fewer crashes that cause serious or fatal injuries than human drivers in the same driving conditions. Our Driver was also involved in 83% fewer crashes where airbags are deployed, and 82% fewer crashes involving any injuries at all.”

That sounds impressive, no?

Putting it in terms of time, considering that the company is now driving more than 4 million miles per week, Waymo contends that it is preventing a crash leading to a serious injury once every 8 days, on average. “View the full analysis and details of our methodology here,” Waymo invites you.

“Some medical professionals argue that this kind of safety record represents a public health breakthrough that could make significant contributions to reducing the likelihood of road traffic deaths and the impact of crashes,” Waymo adds.