AI system
- System
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Waymo Driver (SAE Level 4 automated driving system) operating the Waymo One ride-hailing service
- Model
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Not assessed
- Release
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Not assessed
- Application developer
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Waymo LLC - Role
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Not assessed
- Configuration
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Not assessed
- Inputs and outputs
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Not assessed
- Autonomy
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Not assessed
- Workflow
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Geofenced, mostly non-freeway urban service areas in Phoenix and San Francisco. Liability claims adjudicated under state negligence law and reported for any incident regardless of automation level. A human baseline calibrated by zip code of the insured and by mileage exposure. Rider-only operation with no human in the driver's seat.
- Human oversight
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Not assessed
- Relation to AI
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The ADS drove all rider-only miles. Claims were adjudicated by Waymo's claims administrator. The anonymized data were reviewed by Swiss Re, which built the human baseline from its own portfolio. The comparison is observational (different drivers, roads and reporting pathways). The rider-only sample in the peer-reviewed paper is 3.9 million miles, and Waymo authors co-wrote both papers.
- AI contribution
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The ADS drove all rider-only miles. Claims were adjudicated by Waymo's claims administrator. The anonymized data were reviewed by Swiss Re, which built the human baseline from its own portfolio. The comparison is observational (different drivers, roads and reporting pathways). The rider-only sample in the peer-reviewed paper is 3.9 million miles, and Waymo authors co-wrote both papers.
Benefits
- Outcome identifiers
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Not assessed
- Benefit
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0.78 property-damage claims per million miles against 3.26, a 76% reduction
- Category
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Increased Product Safety
- Status
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Not assessed
- Beneficiary groups
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Society. Organizations. People.
- Beneficiaries
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Not assessed
- Reach
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Not assessed
- Distribution and access
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Not assessed
- Duration
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Not assessed
- Expected?
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Yes
- Costs and harms
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Not assessed
Measurement
- Studies
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Not assessed
- Study design
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Not assessed
- Measurement
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Not assessed
- Setting and sample
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Not assessed
- Measures
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0.78 property-damage claims per million miles against 3.26, a 76% reduction
- Comparison
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zip code-calibrated human-driver baseline built from Swiss Re liability claims
- Results
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Reference: 1.11 claims per million miles (bodily injury); 3.26 claims per million miles (property damage). Result: 0.00 claims per million miles (bodily injury); 0.78 claims per million miles (property damage).
- Additional value from AI
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Not assessed
- Limitations
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Not assessed
- Denominators
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Not assessed
- Materials for replication
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Not assessed
Money
- Kind of value
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Not assessed
- Amount
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Not assessed
- Currency and prices
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Not assessed
- Period and unit
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Not assessed
- Realization
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Not assessed
- Recipients and payers
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Not assessed
- Gross or net
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Not assessed
- Included costs
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Not assessed
- Comparison
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Not assessed
- Method
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Not assessed
- Return and payback
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Not assessed
People and places
- Participants
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Developer:
Waymo LLC. Operator: Waymo LLC (Waymo One in Phoenix and San Francisco; later Los Angeles and Austin). - Jurisdictions
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Developer:
United States. Operator: United States. - Ownership and control
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Not assessed
- Dependencies
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Not assessed
- Cross-border connections
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Not assessed
- Geopolitical implications
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Not assessed
Follow-up
- Conditions for replication
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Access to an insurer's claims portfolio for the same zip codes and years. Comparable claim-reporting thresholds for ADS and human drivers. Sufficient autonomous mileage for non-overlapping confidence intervals. Operational design domain similar to the baseline's road mix.
- Replication attempts
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3 follow-up entries. Benefit recurred: 3.
- Later findings
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19 December 2024. A follow-up with Swiss Re over 25.3 million rider-only miles reported 88% fewer property-damage and 92% fewer bodily-injury claims than the overall driving population, and a May 2025 peer-reviewed study over 56.7 million miles found statistically lower crash rates across injury outcomes.
- Availability
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Not assessed
- Institutional decision
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Not assessed
- Grounds
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Not assessed
- Action and result
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Not assessed
- Success criterion
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Not assessed
Evidence
- Source numbers
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AIBD-0241-source-0001–0005
- Citations
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Numbered references below.
- Language
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Not assessed
- Source relationships
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Developer
- Original evidence
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Not assessed
- Access and versions
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Not assessed
- Supported findings
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Not assessed
- Evidence links
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Not assessed
- Evidence strength
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Not assessed
- Missing evidence
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Not assessed
Grades
- Assessed benefits
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Society. Organizations. People.
- Depth
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Not assessed
- Reasons
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Society: Aggregate claim-frequency comparison; no individually attributable outcome is documented. Organizations: Fewer liability claims are reported in aggregate only. People: No individual beneficiary is documented.
- Observed or intended
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Not assessed
- Rubric
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Not assessed
- Assessor and date
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Not assessed
- Alternative assessments
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Not assessed
- Fill
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The makers' claim
Entry details
- Kind
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Not assessed
- Related entries
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Not assessed
- Field
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Road vehicle crash avoidance. Automated driving systems / ride-hailing.
- Purpose
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The Waymo Driver is built to provide driverless ride-hailing. The studies were designed to measure its liability-claim frequency against human drivers.
- Dates
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Date basis unassessed: 2024 (precision unassessed). Updated: 21 October 2026.
- Stage
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Not assessed
- Version
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SHA-256: cefe9a749184…
References
- Other identifiers
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Not assessed
- Category mappings
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Not assessed
- Brief
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Not assessed
- Revisions
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6 revisions. Latest: 21 October 2026.
Sources
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Peer-reviewed study Developer
Di Lillo L, Gode T, Zhou X, Atzei M, Chen R, Victor T (2024). Comparative safety performance of autonomous- and human drivers: A real-world case study of the Waymo Driver. Heliyon 10(14): e34379.
While driving without a human behind the steering wheel in RO mode for 3,868,506 miles, the Waymo Driver reduced bodily injury claims frequency by 100 %
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Peer-reviewed study Developer
Kusano KD, Scanlon JM, Chen YH, McMurry TL, Gode T, Victor T (2025). Comparison of Waymo Rider-Only crash rates by crash type to human benchmarks at 56.7 million miles. Traffic Injury Prevention 26(sup1).
Data were examined over 56.7 million RO miles through the end of January 2025
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Peer-reviewed study Developer
Di Lillo L, Gode T, Zhou X, Atzei M, Chen R, Victor T (2024). Comparative safety performance of autonomous- and human drivers: A real-world case study of the Waymo Driver. Heliyon 10(14): e34379 (PMC11305169, full text via Europe PMC).
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Preprint Developer
Di Lillo L, Gode T, Zhou X, Scanlon JM, Chen R, Victor T (2024). Do Autonomous Vehicles Outperform Latest-Generation Human-Driven Vehicles? A Comparison to Waymo's Auto Liability Insurance Claims at 25 Million Miles. PDF hosted by Waymo.
Compared to the overall driving population there was an 88% reduction in property damage claims and a 92% reduction in bodily injury claims.
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Press release Developer
Waymo (19 Dec 2024). New Swiss Re study: Waymo is safer than even the most advanced human-driven vehicles. Waymo blog.
the Waymo Driver demonstrated better safety performance when compared to human-driven vehicles, with an 88% reduction in property damage claims and 92% reduction in bodily injury claims.