Waymo, known for its self-driving cars, has unveiled a new data platform that provides insights into the safety of its autonomous vehicles. The platform compares the accident rates of the “Waymo Driver” – what the company calls its autonomous driving system – with those of human drivers in the cities where Waymo operates.
According to the published data, which includes 22 million autonomous driving kilometers by the end of June, the Waymo Driver involved in 84% fewer airbag deployment accidents, 73% fewer injury accidents and 48% fewer police reported accidents than human drivers. The analysis is based on a methodology that Waymo introduced in 2023 and which was reviewed by experts. It enables valid comparisons between autonomous and human driving behavior and follows industry best practices.
Waymo emphasizes the transparency of its data and invites researchers to review the results. For this purpose, publicly available data, including accident reports and vehicle kilometers traveled, are made available.
For San Francisco and Phoenix, where Waymo has already traveled millions of kilometers, local comparisons with human drivers are presented. These are intended to show how the Waymo Driver improves traffic safety in these cities.
The company explains the positive safety figures with various factors: The Waymo Driver is programmed to strictly follow traffic rules, never drives under the influence of alcohol, fatigue or distraction, and has advanced detection and collision avoidance systems.
Waymo emphasizes that no single metric can fully capture the complexity of safe driving. Therefore, the company’s security framework includes multiple hardware, behavioral and operational methods.
By releasing this data, Waymo aims to increase public trust in autonomous driving technology. The company is also calling on the US Department of Transportation NHTSA to collect vehicle mileage data in future accident reporting regulations to enable industry-wide safety analysis.
The new data platform will be updated regularly to transparently document progress in the safety of autonomous vehicles.