Robotaxis may not reduce traffic, Waymo data shows

Robotaxis, once the stuff of science fiction, now operate in a handful of American cities. It took just over a decade to move from the DARPA Grand Challenges to Waymo’s commercial service in California, initially with a safety driver on board. Backers point to safety: last year Waymo’s data showed its cars were involved in many fewer crashes and produced much lower insurance claims than human-driven vehicles, though recent problems with school buses and flooded roads show the technology isn’t perfect.

That safety case has been joined by a promise that autonomous vehicles will cut traffic. A study by MIT Transit Lab Assistant Director of Research Awad Abdelhalim, published in Transport Findings, analyzed Waymo’s reports to the California Public Utilities Commission for about 1,000 days from August 2023 through December 2025.

During that period Waymo completed 13.8 million trips for 19.3 million passengers, covering 86.3 million miles (138.8 million km) and growing at roughly 15 percent a month.

United States, California

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