More or Less: Behind the Stats Are self-driving cars safer than cars with drivers?
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Aug 30, 2025 Fully autonomous cars are here, but are they truly safer than those driven by humans? Explore the surprising truth behind safety claims by companies like Waymo and Tesla. The discussion unpacks safety statistics, revealing that machines may not be as foolproof as assumed. Discover the complexities in comparing driver-assisted vehicles with fully autonomous ones, and learn why operational differences can skew our understanding of safety data. Get ready to challenge your perceptions of self-driving technology!
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Host's Driving Perspective
- Lizzy McNeill admits she's seen many poor human drivers from experience.
- She balances that with the observation that self-driving cars also make surprising mistakes.
Human Driving Baseline
- U.S. drivers average about one fatality per 100 million miles driven.
- That baseline makes it very hard for any new system to demonstrably beat human safety records.
Match Contexts When Comparing Safety
- Compare autonomous vehicle safety only against matching driving contexts and conditions.
- Adjust for area, speed, weather, and road-type before accepting company safety claims.