Waymo's autonomous vehicles have demonstrated a significant safety advantage over human-driven cars, according to a recent study conducted in collaboration with Swiss Re, a major insurance company. The research analyzed 25.3 million fully autonomous miles driven by Waymo vehicles across four cities: Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. The study compared Waymo's collision data with human driver baselines, which were based on Swiss Re's database of over 500,000 claims and over 200 billion miles traveled.
The results of the analysis revealed a substantial 92% reduction in bodily injury claims and an 88% reduction in property damage claims for Waymo's self-driving cars compared to human-driven vehicles. Specifically, over 25.3 million miles, Waymo vehicles were involved in only nine property damage claims and two bodily injury claims, whereas the average human driver would be expected to have 78 property damage claims and 26 bodily injury claims for the same distance. The study also found that Waymo's vehicles performed better than even new cars equipped with the latest safety technology such as automatic emergency braking and lane-keep assist, showcasing the potential of self-driving technology to enhance road safety.