Main content

Are self-driving cars safer than cars with drivers?

We look at claims that fully autonomous cars are 5 or ten times safer than those with a human behind the wheel.

Fully autonomous cars are here. In a handful of cities across the US and China, robotaxis are transporting human passengers around town, but with no human behind the wheel.

Loyal Listener Amberish wrote in to More or Less to ask about a couple of safety statistics he’d seen regarding these self-driving cars on social media. These claimed that Waymo self-driving taxis were five times safer than human drivers in the US, and that Tesla’s self-driving cars are 10 times safer.

But, are these claims true?

We speak to Mark MacCarthy, a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for Technology Innovation, to find out.

If you’ve seen some numbers you think we should look at, email the team: moreorless@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Lizzy McNeill
Producer: Nicholas Barrett
Series producer: Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Neil Churchill
Editor: Richard Vadon

Available now

9 minutes

Last on

Sun 31 Aug 2025 23:50GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 30 Aug 2025 04:50GMT
  • Sat 30 Aug 2025 17:50GMT
  • Sun 31 Aug 2025 04:50GMT
  • Sun 31 Aug 2025 08:50GMT
  • Sun 31 Aug 2025 10:50GMT
  • Sun 31 Aug 2025 23:50GMT

Download this programme

Download this programme

Subscribe to this programme or download individual episodes.