By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – Self-driving company Waymo on Wednesday will defend its safety record before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee after federal agencies opened investigations into a vehicle striking a child near an elementary school and incidents involving robotaxis driving past were loading or unloading parked school buses.
Waymo Chief Safety Officer Mauricio Pena said in written testimony obtained by Reuters for Wednesday’s hearing that its self-driving vehicles have “been involved in 10 times fewer serious injury or worse crashes” compared to human drivers covering the same mileage in the same conditions and said its safety efforts were recently the subject of an independent audit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have both opened safety probes into Waymo.
Waymo, an Alphabet-unit, also called on Congress to pass legislation to advance self-driving vehicles, arguing U.S. leadership “in the autonomous vehicle sector is now under direct threat. The United States is locked in a global race with Chinese AV companies for the future of autonomous driving, a trillion-dollar industry comparable in strategic importance to flight and space travel.”
Tesla vehicle engineering vice president Lars Moravy said in separate testimony, Congress must modernize regulations that inhibit industry’s ability to innovate.
“If the U.S. does not lead in AV development, other nations—particularly China—will shape the technology, standards, and global market,” Moravy’s written testimony says. “And perhaps more importantly, China will be the dominant manufacturer of transportation for the 21st Century.”
In October, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.9 million Tesla vehicles equipped with its FSD system due to the dozens of reports of traffic-safety violations and crashes. Tesla says FSD “will drive you almost anywhere with your active supervision, requiring minimal intervention” but does not make the car self-driving. In October 2024, NHTSA opened an investigation into 2.4 million Tesla vehicles with FSD after four collisions in conditions of reduced roadway visibility.
Moravy said in his testimony “Tesla vehicles with FSD (Supervised) engaged drive on average 5.1 million miles before a major collision and 1.5 million miles before a minor collision. This is compared to U.S. averages of 699,000 miles and 229,000 miles, respectively.”
Congress is considering legislation that aims to make it easier to deploy autonomous vehicles without human controls. As robotaxi testing has expanded, Congress has been divided for years about whether to pass legislation to address deployment hurdles.
Waymo is operating robotaxi trips in Phoenix, the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, and Miami and completed 200 million fully autonomous miles on public roads and providing 400,000 weekly rides. Last month, Tesla started Robotaxi rides in Austin without safety monitors in the car.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in WashingtonEditing by Nick Zieminski)
