Inside Waymo’s Plan To Reassure Robotaxi Skeptics

Tesla is eager to unveil its entry into the self-driving taxi business, but two companies already operating such vehicles — Cruise and Waymo — have learned that it’s difficult to convince the public that they’re safe.

Crashes, near-misses, and roadblocks caused primarily by software or camera issues have contributed to the skepticism, but Waymo is going on the offensive.

A deluge of data

The way the company, which is owned by Google’s parent corporation Alphabet, hopes to assuage fears is by releasing a trove of statistics that it insists proves self-driving taxis aren’t inherently dangerous additions to the nation’s roadways.

After a lengthy test period in multiple communities, Waymo believes it already has a compelling case and promises to keep updating the data in order to provide insight into the safety of its robotaxis.

The company hasn’t released such data since late last year, at which time it claimed its vehicles were far less likely to be involved in serious crashes than those driven by humans.

In June, it provided some additional specifics, indicating that its autonomous taxis were:

• 73% less likely to be involved in a crash resulting in injury
• Involved in 48% fewer wrecks that led to a police report
• 84% less likely to experience an airbag deployment

A lot has changed

When Waymo made its safety data public in December, its vehicles had traveled just over 7 million total miles without a human driver. That number has now more than tripled to roughly 22.2 million miles.

With so much more data to share, safety research director Trent Victor says transparency is now the company’s goal, noting that its new safety hub is “allowing people to replicate the results, see what we did, extend it, look at it through new lenses, add more complexity, and just advance the science.”

Chris Agee September 6th, 2024

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