Waymo’s driverless cars continue to crash less often than people

Waymo’s latest batch of self-reported data continues to affirm the company’s message that its driverless cars are safer than human drivers. As policymakers continue to debate the safety and economic impact of autonomous vehicles, Waymo is hoping that its own data will help bring more supporters to its side — even as some experts say the data fails to capture the non-crash traffic disruptions caused by its robotaxis.

Waymo said it examined 271 million driverless miles in five cities through the end of June, which is 50 million more miles than its last safety report. The total number of miles driven across Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco-Bay Area is the equivalent of over “300 human lifetimes behind the wheel,” assuming every human drives the equivalent of 850,000 miles in their lifetime. The company plans to update its online safety hub to reflect the new driving figures.