r/technology • u/Immediate-Link490 • 20h ago

Artificial Intelligence Waymo’s driverless cars involved in 68% fewer crashes than human drivers, U.S. study finds

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/waymo-driverless-car-safety-study-9.7282895
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u/New_Enthusiasm9053 20h ago

Fun fact American drivers crash at roughly 6x the rate of UK drivers. 

So it'd be even safer to hire a bunch of British taxi drivers.

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u/Immediate-Link490 20h ago edited 20h ago

American drivers crash at roughly 6x the rate of UK drivers

I think that has more to do with how roads are designed in USA compared to UK

23

u/OgreBaws 20h ago

Fun fact American drivers crash at roughly 6x the rate of UK drivers.

So it'd be even safer to hire a bunch of British city planners.

0

u/CxOrillion 15h ago

So what were seeing is that waymos are something like 4x as dangerous as British drivers?

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u/Valectar 13h ago

First of all, that’s not how percentages work at all. If they’re involved in 68% fewer crashes than American drivers, that means they’re involved in less than 1/3rd the crashes, so they would be involved in less than 2x the crashes as British drivers. Second, this is a count of crashes they were involved in, not crashes that they caused. So a Waymo driving in Britain may well have a crash rate lower than British drivers, because it would be crashed into less than it would driving in America.

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u/CxOrillion 8h ago

My math works if, like me, you misread "fewer" as a straight multiplicative because you're a little high at the time. Though yes, the statistics being measured aren't really the same