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Safety

Safety is at the heart of everything we do

At Waymo, we are as rigorous and innovative in our safety practices as we are with our technology. We’ve built a comprehensive safety program to guide our testing and development of fully autonomous driving technology.
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Because Safety is UrgentTM

Autonomous Driving Technology Can Save Lives and Improve Mobility
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  • 1.36M

    deaths worldwide due to vehicle crashes in 2016

  • 36,000

    deaths in the U.S. in 2018 and 2.7 million injuries

  • $836B

    in harm from loss of life and injury each year

  • 50M

    Injuries worldwide due to vehicle crashes each year

  • 79%

    of seniors age 65 and older live in car-dependent communities.

  • 12M

    people 40 years and over in the United States have vision impairment.

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The World’s Most Experienced DriverTM

  • 10+ years

    of autonomous driving in more than 10 states

  • 5 generations

    of autonomously driven vehicles

  • Billions

    of miles in simulation

  • Millions

    of miles on public roads

Our Safety Report

Find out about our processes for the safe testing and deployment of autonomous technology.
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Download PDF

Safety publications

  • Waymo's Safety Case Approach

    March 22, 2023

    Building a Credible Case for Safety: Waymo’s Approach for the Determination of Absence of Unreasonable Risk

    Waymo’s approach to building a reliable case for safety that can serve as a toolkit that any AV developer can use to inform their own safety case.

  • Safety Data from 1M Rider-Only Miles

    February 28, 2023

    Safety Performance of the Waymo Rider-Only Automated Driving System at One Million Miles

    An assessment of all contact events experienced by the Waymo Driver during its first 1M miles without a human behind the wheel supporting that the Waymo Driver is successful at reducing injuries and fatalities.

  • Collision Avoidance Testing

    December 14, 2022

    Collision Avoidance Testing of the Waymo Automated Driving System

    Our scenario-based testing methodology to evaluate the Waymo Driver's behavior in conflict situations initiated by other road users.
    Read on arXiv

  • Collision Avoidance Benchmarking

    September 29, 2022

    Collision Avoidance Effectiveness of an Automated Driving System Using a Human Driver Behavior Reference Model in Reconstructed Fatal Collisions

    A study examining how well the Waymo Driver avoids collisions by using a human behavior reference model — the response time and evasive action of a human driver that is non-impaired, with eyes always on the conflict (NIEON).

  • Response Time Modeling

    September 29, 2022

    Modeling Road User Response Timing in Naturalistic Traffic Conflicts: A surprise-based framework

    Our framework to analyze and model response timing in a crash-imminent situation on the road.
    Read on arXiv

  • Fatigue Risk Management

    August 17, 2022

    Fatigue Risk Management Framework

    Our proposed Fatigue Risk Management Framework addresses prevention, monitoring, and mitigation of fatigue-induced risks that affect autonomous specialists during testing of the Waymo Driver.
    Read on arXiv

  • Simulated Reconstruction

    November 10, 2021

    Simulated Driving Behavior in Reconstructed Fatal Crashes within an Autonomous Vehicle Operating Domain

    A study that explores the safety of the Waymo Driver using simulated versions of real-world events. Our latest paper looks at data on fatal crashes that occured within our operating domain in Chandler, Arizona between 2008 - 2017.

  • Safety Methodologies

    October 31, 2020

    Safety Methodologies and Safety Readiness Determinations

    Our Safety Framework – the careful and multilayered approach to safety that has made it possible for Waymo to deploy fully autonomous driving technology on public roads.
    Read on arXiv

  • Performance Data

    October 31, 2020

    Public Road Safety Performance Data

    Our Public Road Safety Performance Data whitepaper includes details about the miles we’ve driven on public roads in Arizona to provide data about our safe operations in practice.
    Read on arXiv