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If you are in a car accident, you likely blame the other driver – the human behind the wheel of the car who made a mistake that caused you to suffer an accident. But if you are in an accident with a self-driving car, such as Waymo, you may be unsure what to do or how to prove the vehicle caused the accident. Working with a Waymo car accident lawyer from MKP Law Group, LLP can be beneficial if you were hurt in such an accident.
What Is Waymo?
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company located in California. Formerly known as Google Self-Driving Car Project, Waymo has grown to provide more of its vehicles to consumers looking for autonomous cars. Autonomous vehicles aim to provide safe driving by eliminating the risk of a human making mistakes behind the wheel.
Where Does Waymo Operate?
Currently, Waymo operates in:
- Phoenix, beginning operation in October 2020, and now includes 315 square miles around the city;
- San Francisco, beginning operation in August of 2021, and now including Bay and Daly City;
- Los Angeles, beginning operation in November of 2024, throughout the city and the surrounding metro area;
- Atlanta, launching through the Uber app in January of 2025 (for employees; the launch for the public will be later this year); and
- Austin, launching through the Uber app in March of 2025.
The organization shares that it plans to launch in Miami next.
How Often Do Waymo Autonomous Vehicles Crash?
Waymo offers interactive dashboards and downloadable documents regarding its safety measures. Data across the U.S. shows that Waymo was involved in 696 accidents from 2021 through 2024. That is not necessarily indicative of Waymo causing those accidents, as some may have been the fault of the other involved drivers.
If there were 696 crashes over the course of four years, the average number of Waymo accidents is 174 a year – about one every other day.
How Many Waymo Accidents Occurred in Los Angeles?
In California, there have been 454 Waymo accidents. Waymo was involved in 60 accidents in the city of Los Angeles alone. These car accident statistics stem from Waymo’s own self-reporting.
Note that Waymo’s FAQ section explains why there are no local data points for Los Angeles or Austin:
Waymo has driven limited miles in certain cities compared to others. When there are limited miles, the comparisons are not statistically significant. We are not showing the results for these areas with limited Waymo miles because the confidence intervals are so large that they would distort the axes of graphs shown on this page.
We could point out, however, that 5+ million miles is hardly “limited,” and certainly they have enough data by now to update their safety information for both Los Angeles and Austin, the two cities with the fewest miles driven by December 2024.
Some Common Reasons for Waymo Crashes
While a Waymo vehicle can crash for many of the same reasons human drivers can, we want to talk about three in particular:
Speeding-Related Crashes
Speed was a factor in many of the accidents involving Waymo. The data does not display who was speeding, but of the 696 accidents, speeding in a 25-mile-per-hour zone was a factor in at least 352 of those claims. Speed is also one of the most common causes of serious car accidents in Southern California for all drivers.
Issues with Unexpected Behavior by Others
Waymo isn’t great at dealing with the unexpected. Drivers, pedestrians, and others who, for example, turn around in the middle of the street or engage in illegal turns, have all reported accidents. Studies show that “responding to surprising VRU behavior, having visibility be potentially occluded, and vehicle travel behavior were associated with differences in collision speed and injury risk estimation” are potential problem areas for all autonomous vehicles.
Waymo’s Software
There have been incidents in which Waymo’s software could have contributed to accidents. In June of 2024, Alphabet, the parent company of Waymo, stated it would voluntarily recall 672 of its self-driving vehicles. The move came after the driverless vehicle struck a utility pole, causing injury to the rider, an indication that a software problem could have caused the incident.
This happened after a month prior, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into reports of vehicles operating in ways that violated traffic safety laws, indicating “unexpected behavior” caused 17 collisions. In those 17 collisions, most involved another car rear-ending the Waymo vehicle. However, the accidents were severe, resulting in airbag deployment. One of them caused moderate injury.
Is Waymo Safer Than Human Drivers?
It’s hard to say if Waymo is safer. Statistically, it does appear to get into fewer accidents. A study by insurer Swiss Re gathered data from 500,000 accident claims and over 200 billion miles of exposure. The data shows that, when compared to human-driven vehicles, Waymo vehicles lead to an 88% reduction in property damage claims and a 92% reduction in bodily injury claims. The study found this remained true even when the researchers only used more modern vehicles with enhanced safety features that assist drivers in safety.
Waymo may reduce the frequency of accidents, including those resulting in physical and property damage. However, it is not clear if Waymo is safer than a human driver at spotting fast-changing obstacles, such as a bike rider entering an intersection or a pedestrian walking down the street. We would argue, then, that Waymo may be safer for other drivers, but not necessarily for vulnerable road users.
Who Is Responsible If Waymo Crashes?
Typically, if the actions of another driver hurt you, that driver is responsible. But what do you do when the driver is an actual car?
In situations where you believe the Waymo vehicle caused an accident, just like in any other accident situation, you must have evidence to substantiate your claim. The good news is that Waymo vehicles track a considerable amount of data. As your attorneys, we can request that data as part of the discovery in your case to see what it says.
Waymo may be at fault in situations such as when technology does not detect a person on the road or when it fails to abide by changing speed limits. If Waymo’s software is defective, and that defect is what causes the accident, it may be possible to treat this as a product defect case, seeking compensation against the at-fault party, in this case, the manufacturer. Other times, the actual manufacturer of the car, not Waymo, could be held responsible.
Regardless of how you were injured in a collision involving Waymo, MKP Law Group, LLP is here to help. Our experienced car accident lawyers work to determine what exactly happened, and then to hold any and all liable parties accountable.
Call Our Los Angeles Waymo Accident Lawyers for Help
It is not simple to know what your rights are if you are in an accident with a Waymo vehicle. As this company grows, though, the risk of accidents involving them will likely increase as well. If you are facing injuries from such accidents, contact MKP Law Group, LLP to learn more about your options.
MKP Law Group, LLP helps people in Los Angeles and throughout Southern California, including in Long Beach, San Bernardino, Riverside, and all of Orange and Imperial County.
