A Waymo autonomous taxi on Bush Street in San Francisco in December 2025.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergWe Still Don’t Know if Robotaxis Are Safer Than Human Drivers
And even if self-driving technology proves to be less dangerous, there are many better ways to improve traffic safety and prevent fatal crashes.
If a chorus of wide-eyed boosters and enthralled journalists are to be believed, self-driving cars from companies like Waymo, Tesla, and Zoox can bring about road safety nirvana — if only US regulators would get out of their way.
Waymo has said that the for-hire autonomous vehicles it operates in several cities are “already making roads safer,” an assertion echoed by many media outlets. Since “robotaxis have fewer accidents than human drivers,” the Economist concluded, “they are almost certainly saving lives.” By implication, regulations that hinder AV deployments are effectively killing people. A neurosurgeon made a similar argument in a recent New York Times op-ed, writing that “there is a public health imperative” to expand robotaxis as quickly as possible.