Once upon a time, you might not have been caught dead in a robotaxi, but with the recent safety stats that Waymo has been putting up, you might change your tune. See, initially, the prospect of riding in a driverless car might have been a little too much for many people. There’s a chance it’s still like that for some, but robotaxis (at least Waymo’s robotaxis) have actually gotten a lot safer than they were more than a few years ago. In fact, they’ve gotten so safe, there is a very high likelihood that they drive safer than you do.
A new report from The Neuron mentions that a lot has happened to Waymo over the past year or so. Mostly centered around improving the safety of the ride so passengers can feel comfortable. The last thing you need is to fear that you won’t make it to your destination, after all. And it might be a lot easier to do that when you’re in control of the vehicle. Times, they are-a-changin’ though. Robots make up a large portion of the things we interact with every day. From vacuuming to mowing lawns and even cleaning pools. Heck, they drive us around now as well. Waymo is at the forefront of this newer mode of transportation, and it seems part of that is due to how safe the rides are now.
Waymo safety stats show its robotaxis drive safer than 85% of human drivers
This is a wild metric to think about, but Waymo’s robotaxis are now safer than 85% of human drivers. The actual metric breaks down like this. Waymo robotaxis now have 85% fewer suspected serious injuries compared to human drivers. With a 39% to 99% confidence interval. That means you or someone you know personally may be more likely to be involved in an accident that results in a serious injury than a Waymo robotaxi. If that doesn’t make you feel secure about riding in one of them, nothing probably will.
Additional stats include details like 91% fewer airbag deployment crashes and 79% fewer total injuries. These and more stats were pointed out on X by New York Times Tech Columnist Kevin Roose. Taking these stats into consideration, the one key detail people should remember is that these are driverless cars. Humans have no control over the vehicles during their trips. And all of this has been made possible.
With Waymo’s recent successes, robotaxis are planned to expand into more cities. This includes Nashville sometime next year, as well as rollouts around SFO, and in conjunction with Arizona public transit. As well as planned future launches in Miami, D.C., and Atlanta.
