Waymo has started releasing statistics for its autonomous vehicles. Here’s the link.
There are a number of important considerations when comparing human-driven and autonomous vehicles. For instance, the two have different definitions of a crash. AV operators have to report any kind of physical contact (property damage, injury, or fatality). Human-driven cars, on the other hand, don’t typically report accidents unless it was bad enough to necessitate a police report. So there are nuances to keep in mind.
That said, there is an argument to be made that AVs are already safer than human-driven ones. Through to June 2024, Waymo had already logged over 22 million rider-only miles. And here is what it is now reporting in terms of airbag deployments, injury-causing crashes, and police-reported crashes:
All of them are lower than their respective benchmark crash rates.
2 responses to “Autonomous vehicles are already safer than human-driven ones”
I experienced my first Waymo ride this week during a trip to SF (from NYC where I live) and I could not believe how smooth it was – I actually ended up taking it another time during my very short two day trip. I sat in the front both times and felt pretty safe actually. Funny enough, I took a Lyft twice during that trip too and both times I ended up with an aggressive (driving style – they were friendly people) driver, one of them was bad enough that I felt so dizzy when I got off car and wanted to throw up!
Adding money to $Alphabet after this +ve Waymp experience
That’s great to hear. I have yet to ride in an AV, but I really want to. I’m bullish.