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Evidence & Reach
The strongest evidence is independent rather than from the vendor. A 2026 study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety compared roughly 50 million driverless Waymo miles against 222 billion human-driven miles in the same four cities and found 68% fewer crashes overall and 81% fewer injury crashes per mile — with wide variation by city, from 76% fewer in Phoenix to 35% fewer in San Francisco, and a small-sample Austin figure that ran 4% higher. Waymo has since passed 170 million fully autonomous miles and now serves 14 US metros. Two caveats belong with those numbers: the vehicles operate in fair-weather, well-mapped cities, and roughly half of human crashes go unreported, which flatters the comparison. Globally, 1.19 million people die in road traffic crashes each year per the WHO; ~94% are caused by human error.
Sources:Waymo Safety HubWHO Global Road Safety StatusIIHS autonomous vehicle research
A Specific Story
A woman with a vision impairment in Phoenix takes a Waymo every morning to her job at a downtown law firm — a 35-minute trip that previously required either a $40 ride-share or a 90-minute transit chain. She's one of an estimated 25 million American adults with vision loss for whom autonomous vehicles aren't a convenience but a step toward genuine mobility independence.
What's Next
Waymo has announced further metros not yet carrying public riders, among them Boston, Chicago, New York and Washington, plus London and Tokyo — its first markets outside the United States. Beyond the footprint: regulatory frameworks for highway autonomy from NHTSA, and the development of AV-specific insurance products. Long-term, a re-think of how cities are designed when 30%+ of urban land currently dedicated to parking becomes available for other uses.
Recent Top AI Stories showing progress in this area.