Waymo says its driverless vehicles keep getting safer as they log more miles. The company reported that after examining 271 million driverless miles across five cities through the end of June, its cars were involved in 82 percent fewer injury-causing crashes than human drivers. That mileage total is 50 million more than the company included in its last safety report. Waymo plans to update its online safety hub with the new driving figures.
The miles were recorded in Atlanta, Austin, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Waymo compared the total to more than 300 human lifetimes behind the wheel, based on the assumption that a person drives about 850,000 miles in a lifetime. Even so, the company's mileage remains small next to the roughly 3 trillion miles Americans drive every year, which limits how far the comparison between robot drivers and humans can be taken.
Waymo's data covers only five cities, but the company said it operates nearly 4,000 vehicles in more than 10 US cities. It logs about two million driverless miles per week and delivers more than 500,000 paid rides weekly. Some large cities, including New York, Boston, and Washington, DC, have still not allowed Waymo to begin operations, pointing to concerns about traffic disruption and job losses. Waymo hopes that demonstrating its technology can sharply reduce road injuries and fatalities will persuade officials who remain skeptical.
Outside research offers some support. A recent study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that, per vehicle mile traveled, Waymo's driverless vehicles were involved in 68 percent fewer crashes than human drivers. But IIHS President David Harkey said in a statement that the current data collection system is not adequate to allow continuous monitoring of a large-scale expansion.
Concerns remain about leaning on Waymo's self-reported data to judge the safety of its autonomous vehicles. Experts from institutions including Johns Hopkins University say the absence of uniform industry guidelines makes direct comparisons difficult. Critics add that pitting expensive, sensor-heavy robotaxis against average human-driven vehicles, which include older cars and distracted drivers, largely shows that advanced emergency braking and sensors work rather than proving autonomous software is superior. Phil Koopman of Carnegie Mellon argues that aggregate safety dashboards like Waymo's can serve as corporate public relations, minimizing real-world edge cases, embarrassing traffic jams, and minor incidents.
Separately from its own reporting, Waymo must report crashes to the federal government under a 2021 standing general order. A crash is defined there as physical contact with another vehicle, a person, or property. Under that order, Waymo vehicles were involved in 797 crashes across all cities between March and September 2026. The company reported one fatality, in which a pedestrian in Dallas was struck by a human driver and then ricocheted off the pavement into a Waymo vehicle.
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