This study compares the safety of autonomous- and human drivers. It finds that the Waymo One autonomous service is significantly safer towards other road users than human drivers are, as measured via collision causation. The result is determined by comparing Waymo's third party liability insurance claims data with mileage- and zip-code-calibrated Swiss Re (human driver) private passenger vehicle baselines. A liability claim is a request for compensation when someone is responsible for damage to property or injury to another person, typically following a collision. Liability claims reporting and their development is designed using insurance industry best practices to assess crash causation contribution and predict future crash contributions. In over 3.8 million miles driven without a human being behind the steering wheel in rider-only (RO) mode, the Waymo Driver incurred zero bodily injury claims in comparison with the human driver baseline of 1.11 claims per million miles (cpmm). The Waymo Driver also significantly reduced property damage claims to 0.78 cpmm in comparison with the human driver baseline of 3.26 cpmm. Similarly, in a more statistically robust dataset of over 35 million miles during autonomous testing operations (TO), the Waymo Driver, together with a human autonomous specialist behind the steering wheel monitoring the automation, also significantly reduced both bodily injury and property damage cpmm compared to the human driver baselines.

Waymo today started giving robotaxi rides, with an autonomous specialist in the driver's seat, to and from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport today. Members of the company's Trusted Tester Program can now hail one of its all-electric Jaguar I-PACE equipped with a fifth-generation Waymo Driver 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for rides between downtown Phoenix and Phoenix Sky Harbor. The company is working with Phoenix Sky Harbor to offer pickups and dropoffs from the 44th Street Sky Train station. While the rides will have autonomous specialists in them for now, Waymo plans to take them out of the robotaxis and provide rider-only rides in the coming weeks. The company is also working with local leaders and community groups to ensure its meeting their needs.

This report presents Waymo's proposal for a systematic fatigue risk management framework that addresses prevention, monitoring, and mitigation of fatigue-induced risks during on-road testing of ADS technology. The proposed framework remains flexible to incorporate continuous improvements, and was informed by state of the art practices, research, learnings, and experience (both internal and external to Waymo). Fatigue is a recognized contributory factor in a substantial fraction of on-road crashes involving human drivers, and mitigation of fatigue-induced risks is still an open concern researched world-wide. While the proposed framework was specifically designed in relation to on-road testing of SAE Level 4 ADS technology, it has implications and applicability to lower levels of automation as well.

Residents of what is typically a quiet neighborhood in San Francisco are being plagued with humming from several Waymo vehicles crowding a dead-end street. The mysterious sightings are coming from the end of 15th Avenue, where up to 50 of the self-driving cars appear to be confused as they enter the area, residents told local news station KPIX. Resident Jennifer King told KPIX that the vehicles, which are being tested in the California city, all make a multi-point turn and then just leaving from where they came in – and sometimes multiple cars arrive at once. 'I noticed it while I was sleeping,' Jennifer King, a resident in Richmond District told KPIX. 'I awoke to a strange hum and I thought there was a spacecraft outside my bedroom window.'