Waymo’s Cars Crash 68% Less Often Than Human Drivers — and 71% of Americans Still Won’t Ride in One

Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana is confronting the central problem for autonomous vehicles: how to win public trust when a driverless taxi can outperform human drivers in measured crash categories yet still make highly visible mistakes. In a Bloomberg Originals interview published November 4, 2026 — titled “Waymo’s Bet on a Driverless Future” — Mawakana discussed the company’s safety research, complex road situations and the growing number of robotaxis on American streets.

The safety case is strong on the numbers. Bloomberg cites an Insurance Institute for Highway Safety analysis finding Waymo vehicles involved in 68% fewer crashes than human-driven vehicles across four cities, with a 91% lower rate of rear-end collisions.

The trust case is the opposite. The documentary also cites a 2026 Pew Research poll reporting that 71% of adults feel uncomfortable riding in a driverless vehicle. Crash comparisons measure risk; surveys measure attitudes — and attitudes, not statistics, decide whether people open the app.

Waymo’s paid ridership reached 500,000 weekly trips across ten US cities by March 2026, according to company figures reported by TechCrunch, and the service now operates in 15 US metro areas. The company has also had visible stumbles: in May it recalled approximately 3,800 robotaxis over software behaviour that could allow entry into flooded roads. A separate Toyota partnership plans Japan-built bZ4X robotaxis for 2027, though planned testing is not equivalent to commercial approval.