Waymo Safety Record

About Waymo's Autonomous Fleet

Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet (Google's parent company), operates a fleet of autonomous vehicles primarily using Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles. Unlike Tesla's driver-assistance approach, Waymo's vehicles are classified as Level 4 Automated Driving Systems (ADS), meaning they operate without a human driver in defined geographic areas called operational design domains (ODDs).

Waymo has reported 1,810 incidents to NHTSA. The vast majority of these are classified as ADS incidents (1809 ADS vs 1 ADAS). With 2 fatalities and 1778reported injuries, Waymo's safety record reflects the unique challenges of operating fully autonomous vehicles in dense urban environments.

Most Waymo incidents occur at low speeds in urban settings — many involve other vehicles striking the Waymo car, often at intersections or in traffic. The average speed at the time of incident is approximately 13 mph, consistent with urban driving conditions in their primary operating areas.

Operating Areas

Waymo's commercial robotaxi service (Waymo One) operates in several U.S. cities. Based on incident data:

• CA: 1182 incidents
• AZ: 446 incidents
• TX: 127 incidents
• GA: 37 incidents
• FL: 9 incidents

Key Safety Observations

Waymo publishes its own safety reports and has been relatively transparent about incident data. Key observations from the NHTSA data include: most incidents are low-severity, with other vehicles being the primary collision partner; Waymo vehicles are rarely at fault in reported incidents; and the injury rate per incident is higher than some ADAS systems, likely because Waymo reports all incidents including those where occupants report any discomfort.