In the last two years, Waymo has increased the number of miles driven by its self-driving cars from 1 million miles to 127 million miles. Its self-driving cars have now become a regular sight in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Phoenix and Atlanta – the cities where Waymo is currently operating.
But as U.S. roads are filled with white, sensor-covered Jaguars, questions about safety have been raised. Data from both federal regulators and Waymo’s own research suggest the robotaxis are outperforming human drivers.
According to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nine out of 10 crashes involving a Waymo result in zero injuries. Waymo also publishes additional data, which uses a peer-reviewed methodology that compares its self-driving cars to human drivers. This data shows Waymos have roughly 80% fewer accidents than human drivers, and when crashes do occur, they tend to be less severe.
Dr. Sven Beiker, lecturer in Management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business who has researched self-driving cars for two decades, said the technology gives autonomous vehicles a significant technical advantage over humans.
“It has all these sensors. It has lidar, which is laser scanners that detect other objects, it has radar technology, and a bunch of cameras. ” Beiker told The Peninsula Press. “In addition to what we humans see, [the Waymo] knows exactly the speed of the other object. It even knows the acceleration and deceleration. So it has much more information about what’s going on.”
Another difference, Beiker explained, is the lack of human errors.
“A human driver [can be] distracted by fumbling with their phone, tired, drunk, maybe not up to the task or familiar with the vehicle,” he said. “A robotaxi never gets drunk, never gets tired, and should not overestimate the situation. So it doesn’t make these mistakes.”
What the future of self-driving cars will look like remains to be seen. Waymo is currently in the lead, but competitors like Tesla and Zoox are working to catch up. When asked to estimate when self-driving cars might outnumber human drivers on the road, Beiker was cautious.
“That crossover point, I think that will be at least another 30 years or so,” he said. “ It is really a guess.”
