
Waymo’s Austin Rollout: Could this be the end of car accidents?
As a personal injury attorney with over 30 years of experience, I have witnessed the harrowing consequences of car accidents. Families torn apart; lives irrevocably changed—all due to human error. Given my profession, it might surprise you that I want self-driving cars to put me out of business. That’s because I believe they are safer than human-driven vehicles.
Living in Phoenix, a hub for commercial, self-driving cars, I’ve seen these vehicles become a routine part of our streetscape. What was once unimaginable—seeing a car without a driver—has now become commonplace across the Phoenix Metro.
Every year, 1.2 million people die globally in car accidents, with tens of millions more injured. Most of these incidents, roughly 94%, are caused by human mistakes. Self-reported data from Waymo shows its robotaxis are 6.7 times less likely to be involved in a crash resulting in injury and 2.3 times less likely to be in a police-reported crash compared to human drivers.
Despite these promising statistics, the public remains skeptical. Forbes reports that 93% of Americans worry about the safety and reliability of self-driving cars. The media’s focus on testing failures compounds these fears, capturing national attention while most Americans have never experienced a self-driving car.
I am naturally cautious and risk-averse. This inherent wariness has served me well in my career. Until recently, I had never been in a robotaxi and decided to try a Waymo. My first experience was a 30-minute ride from a mall in Central Phoenix to City Hall.
Having no control over the car I was riding in scared the pants off me. Just navigating the parking lot of the local mall was freaky at first. There were cars pulling out, pedestrians crossing in odd places, and a lot of congestion. But the Waymo handled these conditions smoothly and without incident.
As we turned onto a main street called Camelback Road, I was expecting sharp turns and abrupt stops, but the Waymo’s consistent speed and spatial awareness of objects put me at ease. Honestly, it felt like I was being driven around by a Driver’s Ed instructor. After 10 minutes, I had built a sense of trust with the robot.
At one point, the Waymo seemed a little unsettled by surrounding traffic, making some lane changes that seemed odd. Yet, I still felt safe. In another instance, the Waymo detected a car pulling out of a parallel parking spot in the opposite direction and applied its brakes unnaturally hard. Is it perfect? No. But is it better and safer than a human driver? I thought so. With just one ride, Waymo removed my fear and significantly eliminated my skepticism.
Commercialized self-driving cars eliminate the human factors that cause accidents. They do not get distracted, drunk, drive aggressively or engage in risky behaviors. Waymo robotaxis get smarter with every ride; sharing data, continuously learning and improving to provide safer transportation.
We can accept the current number of annual car accident fatalities caused by human error or embrace autonomous technology to reduce that number significantly. The technology is here. We need to get in and go for a ride.
Marc Lamber is a Martindale Hubbell AV Preeminent-rated trial attorney and public safety advocate. A director at the Am Law 200 firm Fennemore, Lamber chairs the Personal Injury Practice Group and has been featured in national and local media, including the USA Today, ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the ABA Journal and many others.
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