Waymo crashes 1/3 as much as a human driver, says IIHS - with some caveats

Key Points:

• The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found that Waymo's autonomous electric taxis crash 68% less frequently than average human drivers, with crashes generally being less severe and less often caused by the autonomous vehicle.
• Waymo's autonomous taxis have driven around 50 million miles from 2021-2024 across 11 US cities, providing a substantial dataset for analysis, though limitations exist due to data reporting inconsistencies and the relatively small sample size compared to human-driven miles.
• The study excluded highway driving, where Waymo does not operate, focusing instead on urban environments where Waymo taxis tend to drive on lower-speed streets, potentially contributing to lower crash severity compared to humans.
• Caveats include differences in reporting requirements (autonomous companies must report all crashes, humans do not), the presence of many driverless trips reducing injury risk inside the vehicle, and the challenge of comparing autonomous vehicles to an "average" human driver who may be impaired or distracted.
• While the data suggests autonomous taxis like Waymo are safer than average human drivers, further data and analysis are needed to fully assess their safety, especially compared to optimal human driving conditions and over larger, more diverse datasets.