Waymo’s Driverless Cars Are Hitting the Road – But Are They Safe?

With COVID-19 still very much a part of our everyday lives, driverless rides may be a very attractive option for those who are safety conscious – but are they risking their safety in other ways? Autonomous vehicles have been creeping onto roadways across the country under rules and regulations that vary by state based upon the vehicle’s intended use.

Waymo’s self-driving vehicles have been involved in several collisions over the last four years, despite the claim that only one of those incidents was their fault. Yet the company moving ahead with entirely driverless vehicles in Phoenix, despite these safety concerns.

What could go wrong with Waymo’s driverless cars?

At this time, Waymo’s vehicles are only able to take fares within a 50 square mile area. The reasoning is pretty clear. Officials still are not fully convinced from a public safety perspective that it is a good idea to unleash self-driving cars without limitations.

Issues with Waymo cars as shown in this YouTube video by The Arizona Republic have been tracked for the past few years, showing:

• Inability to smoothly change lanes
• Slow or unstable response when needing to adjust for traffic to change lanes
• Failure to recognize an accident scene that required merging right
• Hesitation causing vehicles to miss turns
• Unstable steering within the lane
• Some unprotected left-hand turns against traffic are still being maneuvered by safety drivers

Another video report by The Verge shows one of its reporters narrating a fully unmanned ride he took, which includes the van choosing to turn off its route to cut through neighborhood to avoid traffic. If these vehicles are able to safely handle roadways, would they need to choose alternate routes?

Any of these glitches has the potential to cause a serious car accident ending in catastrophic injuries or fatalities and the State of Arizona does not yet appear confident that it will not happen.

What we do not know might hurt us

Another fun fact about whether Waymo's autonomous vehicles are safe is that there are events the general public will never become privy to. Every beta rider was required to sign a non-disclosure agreement for the privilege of being among the first to test out these taxis. That means they cannot talk about the vehicles or anything they might have personally observed, including:

• General malfunctions
• Emergency situations they might have experienced
• Whether anyone sustained minor injuries during a ride from stopping short or other anomalies
• How they felt about the safety capabilities of these vehicles after riding in them

These autonomous vehicles may very well become the new taxis of the future but with glitches still being worked out, it only takes one error to cause a bad car accident and end a life. It takes an awful lot of faith to choose to be the test subject for that experiment in the meantime.

The seasoned Los Angeles defective vehicle attorneys at McNicholas & McNicholas, LLP are here for product liability victims who need help holding companies accountable for their physical and financial injuries. To schedule your free case evaluation, call 310-706-2751, or fill out our contact page. This blog is not to be construed as legal advice, and because every case is very fact-specific, you will need to consult with a lawyer to obtain legal advice specific to your case.