Stats Show Autonomous Waymos Safer Than Manned Vehicles

By the Waymo Team

Earlier this week in San Francisco, a mother in labor hailed a Waymo to the hospital and ended up with an extra surprise: her baby delivered in the backseat. Some people just can’t wait for their first Waymo ride.

In 2025, people in cities across the country trusted Waymo for life’s precious moments — big and small — and to make their daily journeys smoother, simpler, and safer. Whether it’s commuting early in the morning, catching a flight, getting married, or even giving birth, Waymo has been there for our riders — showing that our massive growth this year was fueled not only by how rapidly we scaled our demonstrably safe AI, but by the people who made autonomous transportation part of their daily lives.

One of the clearest signs of that rider impact came this spring, when we began serving over 1 million fully autonomous rides every month; a number that we’re on a path to hit every week by the end of 2026. In total, we served over 14 million trips so far in 2025 alone — more than tripling our public rides from last year — and setting us up to exceed 20 million lifetime trips by the end of the year.

With the Waymo Driver at the wheel, our riders enjoyed over 3.8 million hours in their own trusted space to catch up on work, have a judgement-free conversation, or simply relax. With our all-electric fleet, Waymo riders helped avoid over 18 million kilograms of CO2 emissions* — 3x more than last year. And we accomplished these milestones all while delivering on our safety commitment — achieving more than a 10-fold reduction in serious injury or worse crashes compared to human drivers.

Starting today, riders who’ve taken at least three trips this year can look back on their travels and check their own Year in Review numbers. This highly anticipated annual release gives our most fervent riders the chance to compare their stats and claim bragging rights with friends. New this year, riders will receive a Waymotype based on their ride activity and be either a Power Rider, Night Owl, Wanderer, Veteran, Newcomer, Commuter, or Explorer. Open the app, discover your Waymotype, and share with your network!

As we look to 2026, we’re laying the early groundwork for ride-hailing operations in over 20 additional cities in 2026, including international cities like Tokyo and London.

We also look forward to inviting more riders to experience the convenience and efficiency of traveling with Waymo via freeways. Riders can already experience this in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, and next year we’ll open up this service in more of our cities.

From freeways to airports, we look forward to continuing to help riders get where they need to go. Airports are a top destination, as we’ve seen with our years of successful operations at Phoenix Sky Harbor International. This year, we received permits to serve riders at both San Jose Mineta International Airport and San Francisco International Airport, and we recently began offering employees fully autonomous rides at Miami International Airport with plans to go fully autonomous at other major airports soon.

Perhaps most importantly, it comes back to the people. We’re proud of the lives we’ve touched and the impactful community organizations we’ve partnered with. Whether offering mobility independence to those with epilepsy, advocating for safer streets alongside cyclists, or offering a reliable ride for the blind community and their service animals, we look forward to continuing to work with partners in new cities who share our mission to make roads safer and transportation more accessible.

To the riders (including our youngest) and partners who moved with us in 2025: thank you. Your trust is helping us bring Waymo to even more communities in 2026.

Here’s to the road ahead.

*Based on avoided tailpipe emissions rate of 207 gCO2/passenger mile and vehicle occupancy of 1.5 passengers. Learn more about Waymo’s avoided emissions methodology and renewable energy sourcing program at waymo.com/sustainability.

Article from Waymo.