Waymo says its robotaxis are up to 25x safer for pedestrians and cyclists
Waymo has released new research saying that its driverless robotaxis reduce pedestrian- and cyclist-involved collisions by 82%-92%, and crashes that involve an injury by 96%, when compared to the average driver.
Waymo has been operating its autonomous, driverless Level 4 robotaxis for several years now, and is continuing to (slowly) roll them out to more metro areas in the US. They’ve been operating in Phoenix since 2019 in some capacity, and entered San Francisco in 2022, Los Angeles in 2023, and Austin, Texas in 2024, plus they’ve just started testing in Atlanta, Georgia.
In that time, the company has racked up 56.7 million miles of operation, allowing it to have a big enough sample to start understanding how its driving capabilities compare to the overall vehicle fleet.
Today it released a research paper that it has published, suggesting that its vehicles are indeed quite a lot safer, especially when it comes to “vulnerable road users” like pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Waymo released a table showing the total number of incidents it had in each location, inclusive of not just crashes with vulnerable road users, but vehicle-to-vehicle crashes as well.
| Location | Any injury | Airbag deployed | Serious injury+ |
| Phoenix | 24 | 8 | 0 |
| San Francisco | 16 | 7 | 2 |
| Los Angeles | 8 | 2 | 0 |
| Austin | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| All Locations | 48 | 18 | 2 |
But in its press release it highlighted vulnerable road users specifically, showing that Waymo’s robotaxis had a 92% reduction in crashes involving an injury with pedestrians and an 82% reduction with both cyclists and motorcyclists. This increases to a 96% reduction in injuries in intersections, which are one of the most dangerous parts of the road, and 85% reduction in crashes with “suspected serious injuries” or worse.
Due to the high number of miles studied, results for some specific environments and types of crashes are statistically significant, but some of Waymo’s other results are not – because some of these types of crashes are extremely rare. So more research will come as more miles get racked up.
Along with its blog post, Waymo released a short video with some examples of avoided crashes with vulnerable road users:
Waymo’s results show a particularly stark difference given that pedestrian injuries are at a 40-year high in America. Until around 2012, the trendline for pedestrian injury and death was trending downwards, showing that roads and cars were getting safer for other road users.
But in the last 13 years, pedestrian deaths have shot up rapidly, owing both to distracted driving (cellphones, screens in cars) and much larger vehicles. The latter point is finally seeing some attention by the US government – or at least, it was, before this January rolled around (we’ll see if republicans continue on their quest to make literally everything worse).
Waymo’s research has been accepted for publication in the scientific journal Traffic Injury Prevention.
Electrek’s Take
We took a ride in a Waymo when the service first came to LA and you can read my long writeup of that here, including lots of video showing how the car performed in some pretty difficult road situations. I was quite impressed, but it still isn’t perfect.
But Waymo has put quite a premium on safety, which it can do because it’s funded by Google’s deep pockets. It has spent quite a bit of money on developing and attaching its sensor suite to its robotaxis, and the statistics seem to suggest that that expenditure has paid off.
Though it sort of already has paid off, as Waymo’s main driverless competitor, Cruise, ended operations in 2023 after a high-profile crash. Cruise’s vehicle was not at fault for the crash (a human driver caused it, hitting a pedestrian into the Cruise vehicle), but Cruise subsequently was found to have misled investigators, which was a big no-no.
Waymo’s sensor-heavy is different than the approach taken by another company that talks a lot about self-driving, Tesla. Tesla is using a camera-only system, whereas Waymo has several other sensors, like radar and LiDAR (you may have heard about the difference between these two in a recent controversial Mark Rober video, which everyone seems to have missed the point of).
There are some strengths and weaknesses of each approach, and time will tell which one works out the best. Tesla’s solution is more scalable and the company has far more road miles covered than Waymo does, but the quality of Tesla’s data is lower due to its smaller (and cheaper) sensor suite.
Tesla occasionally releases a safety report, but the data included is quite minimal and has not been published in any scientific journals for peer review.
But most observers (other than Tesla CEO Elon Musk, whose observational capacities are questionable these days; and Andrej Karpathy, a well-respected top AI researcher and former Tesla AI lead) think that camera-only is not going to be able to get us to true self-driving vehicles.
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Sunrun just turned thousands of homes into the US’s largest virtual power plant to help keep the lights on in California this summer.
The company’s virtual power plant, CalReady, has more than quadrupled in size, linking together around 75,000 home batteries from over 56,000 Sunrun customers with solar + storage. As summer heat pushes California’s grid to the brink, CalReady is ready to step in with up to 375 megawatts (MW) of backup power, enough to power around 280,000 homes, the equivalent of all of Ventura County.
This massive battery network isn’t just about keeping homes cool during a heat wave. It also helps to lower electricity bills and cut pollution by sending clean energy back to the grid when needed most: between 4 and 9 pm, from May through October. That’s when demand spikes and fossil fuel plants usually kick in.
Sunrun CEO Mary Powell calls it a “customer-led energy revolution.” The idea is simple: homeowners can become part of the grid solution instead of depending only on giant power plants. And they’re getting paid for it. Customers in CalReady can earn up to $150 per battery for sharing their stored solar energy. Last year, Sunrun customers made over $1.5 million from the program. This year, they could bring in nearly $10 million.
In 2024, CalReady enrolled over 16,000 households and pushed out an average of 48 MW to the grid during heat waves. Now, it’s expected to deliver 250 MW per two-hour event, with bursts up to 375 MW.
What makes CalReady special is that it doesn’t need new land or expensive infrastructure. It uses what people already have – solar panels and batteries at home.
“CalReady’s decentralized nature eliminates any potential single point of failure while offering greater resilience and flexibility for the state’s evolving energy needs,” added Powell.
Thanks to California’s growing rate hikes, more people are turning to solar and battery storage. By the end of 2024, over 60% of new Sunrun customers added battery storage to their solar systems; in California, that number was nearly 90%.
Read more: Sunrun sets a record in California with the US’s largest virtual power plant
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Environment
Block shares plunge 15% as company takes ‘cautious stance,’ issues weak guidance for year
Block reported first-quarter results that missed Wall Street expectations on Thursday and issued a disappointing outlook. The stock tumbled 15% in extended trading.
Here is how the company did, compared to analysts’ consensus estimates from LSEG.
- Earnings per share: 56 cents, adjusted. That figure may not be comparable to estimates.
- Revenue: $5.77 billion vs. $6.2 billion expected
Revenue decreased about 3% from $5.96 billion a year earlier. Gross profit rose 9% to $2.29 billion from $2.09 billion a year earlier. That missed analysts’ forecasts of $2.32 billion for the quarter.
Block provided weaker-than-expected profit guidance for the second quarter and full year, reflecting challenging economic conditions. A growing number of tech companies are warning investors about the rest of the year following President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on imported goods last month.
“We recognize we are operating in a more dynamic macro environment, so we have reflected a more cautious stance on the macro outlook into our guidance for the rest of the year,” the company wrote in its quarterly report.
The company expects gross profit in the second quarter of $2.45 billion and $9.96 billion for the full year. Analysts were expecting $2.54 billion and $10.2 billion, respectively, according to StreetAccount.
In the first quarter, gross payment volume, or a measure of money moving through Square and Cash App, came in light at $56.8 billion, versus expectations of $58 billion, according to StreetAccount.
Cash App’s gross profit was a bit softer than expected. CFO Amrita Ahuja cited lower inflows and muted tax-season spending, but said the company expect a pickup later this year, in part because of the nationwide expansion of the Cash App Borrow program following regulatory approval.
While Wall Street is selling on the results, CFO Amrita Ahuja said Block delivered its most profitable quarter ever, which she said is “a reflection of the continued discipline across our business and the efficiency with which we operate.”
— CNBC’s Robert Hum contributed to this report.
Environment
Jeep’s new Compass EV just leaked: Is this the affordable electric SUV we’ve waited for?
Jeep is set to reveal the new Compass any day now. Ahead of its official debut, Jeep’s new Compass leaked online, showing several different variants, including an EV. Is this the affordable electric SUV we’ve been waiting for?
Jeep’s new Compass EV leaks ahead of global debut
We knew it was coming soon after Jeep teased the next-gen Compass for the first time last October. As part of its “Freedom of Choice” strategy, the new SUV will be available in fully electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid (PHEV) variants. It will also be offered with AWD on select models.
Jeep confirmed the global reveal would take place this Spring in Europe. The new SUV is based on the STLA Medium platform, the same one that underpins the Peugeot E-3008, Peugeot E-5008, and Opel Grandland.
Stellantis claims the platform offers “best-in-class” WLTP range of up to 435 miles (700 km). However, that’s for the Performance pack. The Standard pack provides 310 miles (500 km) WLTP driving range.
With its debut this spring, we’re already getting a look at Jeep’s new Compass EV, thanks to images that leaked online. Although several sources claim to have released the new photos, they appear to be from the Brazilian website, Quatrorodas, revealing several new variants.
You can see the new Compass remains true to Jeep’s signature look with its traditional seven-slot grille, but there are a few updated design elements.
Like the Avenger, the new Compass has a revamped front end with vertical LED headlights and a closed-off grille. The backside features a new illuminated light strip with “Jeep” integrated into the middle. On one of the variants, the letter “e” is featured on the bumper, suggesting it’s the electric version.
Leaked images of the interior reveal a knob for different drive modes, a horizontal infotainment screen, and plenty of physical buttons below it.
Jeep will build the new Compass at its plant in Melfi, Italy. According to the report, it will also be manufactured in Brazil.
Although prices will be revealed closer to launch, the company said the new Compass will offer “affordable Jeep capability” across all powertrains. To give you an idea, the 2025 Jeep Compass starts at $26,900 in the US. In Europe, the 2025 Jeep Compass 4xe plug-in hybrid starts at €42,995 ($48,500).
Despite this, Stellantis froze all activities at its Brampton plant earlier this year, including work on the next-gen Compass. The pause comes as Stellantis reassesses what powertrain options to offer in North America.
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