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Driverless Cars Just Scored Bragging Points Over Humans
Newser • • business
Key Points:
- An independent analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that Waymo's driverless cars have 68% fewer police-reportable crashes per mile than human-driven vehicles in San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin.
- The study showed significant reductions in single-vehicle crashes (85%) and injury-related crashes (81%) involving Waymo's robotaxis, though crash rate improvements varied by city.
- Austin was an exception with a slightly higher crash rate for Waymo vehicles, but researchers noted the sample size there was small.
- The findings support claims that autonomous vehicles can reduce collisions by eliminating impaired or distracted driving, but experts emphasize the need for better nationwide data collection on miles driven by autonomous vehicles.
- Current regulations require accident reporting but not mileage data, and Waymo is currently the only major company voluntarily providing miles driven, making broader safety assessments challenging.
