Overview
- The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released an analysis in late July that found Waymo Level 4 driverless vehicles had a 68% lower police-reportable crash rate and an 81% lower injury crash rate than a human-driver benchmark.
- IIHS based its results on 736 autonomous-vehicle crash reports to NHTSA and roughly 50 million Waymo driverless miles compared with about 222 billion human-driven miles in the same areas.
- The study reports big reductions in specific crash types: 91% fewer instances of rear-ending another vehicle, 40% fewer being rear-ended, and 85% fewer single-vehicle crashes per mile.
- Researchers warned the comparison is limited because federal rules force AV operators to report many minor incidents, Waymo excluded interstate and freeway driving from the studied operations, and empty-mile driving reduces passenger exposure to injury risk.
- Waymo welcomed the findings and supports standardized reporting; regulators and local officials, including those weighing approvals in Philadelphia and Illinois, are pressing for a national crash-and-mileage reporting system to improve oversight as robotaxi fleets expand.