Robotaxis are proving increasingly safe for other road users

Waymo driverless vehicles are involved in fewer and fewer crashes. — AFP

Robotaxi operator Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has published a new study which, it claims, shows the effectiveness of its driverless vehicles in terms of safety, compared to cars driven by humans.

The study reports that Waymo vehicles avoid potentially serious crashes and often protect pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users better than human drivers. At least, this is the case in areas where these robotaxis operate.

The study reviews Waymo's performance in 11 different crash scenarios, compared to human driving benchmarks. It reveals that Waymo vehicles interact much more safely with vulnerable road users, since for the same number of kilometers covered, its robotaxis are 92% less likely to be involved in crashes involving personal injury to pedestrians, and 82% less likely to collide with cyclists and motorcyclists, compared to human drivers. In fact, Waymo's technology allows for reaction times well below those of even highly attentive human drivers.

Another striking figure is that Waymo's autonomous vehicles are reported to have caused 96% fewer injury-involving crashes at intersections than human drivers. This performance is attributable to the ability of Waymo's autonomous driving software to detect and respond appropriately to vehicles running red lights. In addition, the study points to an 85% reduction in crashes with "suspected serious or worse injuries".

These highly encouraging results should be treated with caution, however, as they concern only a small number of crashes. Nevertheless, they point in the right direction for the development of this type of service throughout the United States.

Today, the Waymo One autonomous ride-hailing service is available in several US cities, including San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin, and is already being tested in Miami and Atlanta. Waymo claims to operate around 250,000 weekly trips in the country. Next stop: New York. – AFP Relaxnews