I recall reading an analysis of the self driving safety stats a few years back that concluded, if you counted incidents requiring human intervention as if they were accidents, then based on total miles driven, humans far outperformed self driving, by like an order of magnitude. In other words, companies (waymo included) were sugar coating their stats for good PR, though Waymo was still at the front of the pack.
Some other comments on this thread suggest that self-driving is only perceived to be unsafe, but is statistically much more safe. Unless the stats improved significantly since then (and what specifically achieved that?), and an independent analysis can agree, I'm not trusting corporate PR.
>...if you counted incidents requiring human intervention as if they were accidents...
The true number is somewhere between this worst case and the numbers Waymo presents.
Most driver interventions that I've seen on video were not narrowly missed accidents; they're the car being confused by road construction, a double parked driver, pedestrians spilling onto a street etc.
I have also seen (for Tesla at least), videos of driver interventions that definitely would have been accidents if the driver hadn't stepped in.
I definitely agree with your point that I'd love to see more in-depth figures and the CA DMV might release those more detailed figures? I'm not sure.
Some other comments on this thread suggest that self-driving is only perceived to be unsafe, but is statistically much more safe. Unless the stats improved significantly since then (and what specifically achieved that?), and an independent analysis can agree, I'm not trusting corporate PR.