What we know about Waymo’s 2025 expansion plans
Waymo, Alphabet’s autonomous driving subsidiary, has been rapidly expanding its self-driving robotaxi across various US cities, introducing both testing phases and public ride-hailing operations. Despite these expansion plans, many people remain hesitant to embrace autonomous technology. A Pew Research Center study from 2022 found that 45 percent of Americans would not feel comfortable sharing the road with driverless vehicles.
Much of this skepticism comes from the coverage of autonomous driving incidents in the media. Crashes are rare, so when they do happen, they make headlines and fuel the idea that these cars are untrustworthy. The hype around a few high-profile crashes can easily drown out the bigger picture.
The data tells a different story, though. In collaboration with Swiss insurance company Swiss Re, Waymo conducted a study analyzing 25.3 million miles driven by its autonomous vehicles. The findings revealed an 88 percent reduction in property damage claims and a 92 percent reduction in bodily injury claims compared to human-driven vehicles for the same distance traveled.
