Waymo's 56.7 Million Autonomous Miles Show 85% Reduction in Serious Injury Crashes

Waymo, Alphabet's autonomous driving technology company, has reached a significant milestone, accumulating over 100 million miles driven in fully autonomous mode on public roads. This achievement underscores the company's progress in advancing self-driving vehicle safety, with recent data highlighting a substantial reduction in severe incidents compared to human-driven vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) uses vehicle miles traveled (VMT) as a key metric for reporting vehicle deaths, with the average in the U.S. being approximately 1.2 to 1.26 deaths per 100 million VMT.

According to a peer-reviewed study published in Traffic Injury Prevention, analyzing 56.7 million rider-only miles through January 2025, Waymo's autonomous vehicles demonstrated an 85% reduction in crashes resulting in suspected serious or worse injuries compared to human benchmarks. The study, authored by Waymo researchers, also reported 81% fewer airbag-deploying crashes and 79% fewer injury-causing crashes. These findings indicate a statistically significant safety improvement in the cities where Waymo operates, including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin.

The safety performance of autonomous vehicles is often benchmarked against human driving statistics. As stated in a recent social media post by Rakesh Agrawal, "> 100M VMT is also the metric that NHTSA uses for reporting vehicle deaths. The average in the US is 1.2 deaths per 100M VMT, so Waymo is already way better than that." He further noted, "> The average varies quite a bit by state. The high is 1.79 for MS and 0.62 for MA. CA is 1.19." While the study identified two serious injury incidents involving Waymo vehicles within the 56.7 million miles, the overall rate remains significantly lower than human driving.

Despite these advancements, the autonomous vehicle industry continues to face scrutiny and regulatory oversight. NHTSA has initiated investigations into various incidents involving Waymo vehicles, and the company issued a recall in May 2025 for over 1,200 vehicles due to a software glitch. Waymo's operations are currently concentrated within geofenced areas, primarily in warm, urban environments, which some critics argue makes direct comparisons to all human driving conditions complex.

The continued accumulation of autonomous miles and transparent reporting of safety data are crucial for building public trust and refining the technology. Waymo's extensive mileage and demonstrated safety reductions contribute to the growing body of evidence supporting the potential of autonomous vehicles to enhance road safety and reduce the incidence of traffic-related injuries.