Research & Discoveries (R&D): First Million Rider-Only Miles & How the Waymo Driver is Improving Road Safety
Academics and experts around the world are studying how AVs can improve road safety, enhance mobility, and create new economic opportunities, among other transformative benefits. AVIA’s Research & Discoveries (R&D) Series highlights these reports’ findings about how AVs can create a safer and more mobile world
Need To Know (NTK): Waymo Surpassed 1 Million Rider-Only Miles With No Reported Injuries Across Multiple U.S. Cities
In January, Waymo exceeded one million miles on public roads without a human driver behind the wheel. Waymo released a safety performance study that indicates that its autonomous driving system, the Waymo Driver, is effective in reducing injuries and fatalities on the road.
WAYMO DRIVER
Waymo’s data analysis tracked an expansive number of AVs and riders. Over the course of 1,000,000 miles on public roads, the data revealed:
- No reported injuries
- Only 2 collisions met criteria for inclusion in NHTSA's Crash Investigation Sampling System (CISS) for car crashes. In the more severe of the two collisions, a Waymo vehicle was hit from behind by another car whose driver was looking at their cell phone while approaching a red light.
- 18 minor contact events did not meet CISS criteria (e.g. another car backing out of a parking space into a stationary Waymo waiting to pick up a rider)
HUMAN DRIVER COUNTERPARTS
Diving deeper, Waymo also summarized all contact events experienced while reaching one million miles to provide a more in-depth look into the performance of the Waymo Driver and where it stands compared to human driving:
- Over 50% of contact events were the result of a human driver hitting a stationary Waymo vehicle
- None of the collision events occurred at an intersection - where most injury-causing and fatal collisions usually take place
- None of the collision events involved vulnerable road users like bicyclists or pedestrians
- Every vehicle contact event involved one or more road rule violations and/or dangerous behaviors on the part of the human drivers
- Contact events reduced for Waymo’s vehicles between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. - typically fatality rates increase at night for human drivers due to increased risk factors such as alcohol, fatigue, and speeding
CONCLUSION
By studying the performance of the Waymo Driver and contextualizing the data with the human driving record, the findings emphasize the Waymo Driver’s abilities to reduce injuries and fatalities on the road. The Waymo Driver is able to improve roadway safety by “mitigating the potential for injury by driving safely, responsibly, and defensively to avoid entering into a conflict situation in the first place and taking an appropriate avoidance maneuver if a conflict develops.”