Home / Technology / Self-Driving Cars Slash Accident Risk, Study Finds
Self-Driving Cars Slash Accident Risk, Study Finds
24 Jul
Summary
- Driverless vehicles had 68% fewer serious crashes than human drivers.
- Only 11% of autonomous vehicle crashes were plausibly blamed on them.
- IIHS study compared robotaxi data with human driver crash reports.
A recent analysis by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) suggests that autonomous vehicles, particularly Waymo, are involved in far fewer serious accidents than human drivers.
During the period of July 2021 to December 2024, Waymo vehicles experienced 68% fewer crashes that were serious enough to warrant a police report when compared to human drivers in similar locations. Of these reported incidents, a mere 11% could be plausibly blamed on the autonomous driving systems.
This comprehensive study involved analyzing federal crash reports from Waymo, GM's Cruise, Amazon's Zoox, and other smaller firms, and comparing them with human-driven crashes in California, Arizona, and Texas. While Waymo vehicles logged approximately 50 million driverless miles, human drivers accounted for about 222 billion miles in the same regions.
The IIHS, a respected safety watchdog funded by auto insurers, noted that Waymo's data allowed for a more direct comparison due to the company’s willingness to share vehicle-miles-traveled figures. However, the report does not compare robotaxis to human taxi or ride-hailing drivers. Issues like Waymo's occasional erratic behavior, such as driving past stopped school buses or encountering difficulties in chaotic traffic, are not addressed by this safety-focused study.
