Seventeen years ago, the idea of a “robotaxi” was the stuff of big-budget Hollywood sci-fi. The concept of an autonomous vehicle navigating the busy, hilly streets of San Francisco or the sun-drenched boulevards of Phoenix without a human behind the wheel felt decades, if not a century, away.
Today, we aren’t just imagining that future; we are living it. As we celebrate the 17th anniversary of Waymo’s founding, this milestone of American ingenuity has transformed a laboratory experiment into a lifesaver (literally). Whether it’s a late-night ride home from the airport or a daily commute to the office, Waymo has shown that the “autonomous revolution” is here and it’s safe—led by America.
The company’s growth is nothing short of breathtaking. By the end of 2025, Waymo had already surpassed 20 million fully autonomous trips with public riders. As we look toward the end of 2026, it is on a trajectory to leap from 450,000 weekly rides to over 1 million, expanding into new hubs like San Antonio and Orlando.
A Moral Imperative: Safety at Scale
At NetChoice, we believe in the power of free enterprise and the market of ideas to solve problems, and there is no greater problem on our roads than human error. The statistics are staggering: Waymo’s autonomous vehicles show an 81% reduction in injury-causing crashes and a 92% reduction in crashes involving pedestrians compared to human drivers.
If these numbers are sustained as the technology goes mainstream, Waymo alone could end up preventing one million injury-causing crashes and saving over 30,000 lives every single year. Every life saved is a testament to why we must allow this technology to flourish without being strangled by red tape.
Winning Global Competition
While Waymo may have once been a novelty, it now has implications in the global great power competition between the U.S. and China. While the U.S. is currently the leader in this space, thanks to pioneers like Waymo and Tesla, our lead is fragile. As of May 2024, China had over 2,500 robotaxis in commercial service. China is also aggressively subsidizing its autonomous industry, viewing it as a key pillar of global dominance.
If contradictory regulations and burdensome hurdles continue to grow in Washington or state capitals, America risks ceding this frontier to foreign rivals. Falling behind means more than just losing a race; it means eventually relying on foreign-controlled technology for our domestic infrastructure. We need the American entrepreneurial spirit to win, and that requires a regulatory environment that rewards rather than punishes innovation.
Reclaiming Our Most Precious Asset: Time
The average American commuter spends nearly an hour per day stuck behind the wheel, often in stress-inducing traffic. Autonomous technology hands that time back. Imagine 50 minutes a day reclaimed for your work, reading, or simply relaxing. By unlocking more time, driverless cars could improve work-life balance for millions of Americans and fuel a surge in national economic growth.
Empowering the Underserved: A New Era of Mobility
Perhaps the most moving aspect of Waymo’s 17-year journey is its impact on those the traditional transportation system left behind, dismantling the barriers that have long sidelined the underserved.
For those who cannot afford or operate a personal vehicle, Waymo provides a vital link to the world. By solving the “first-mile, last-mile” problem, autonomous vehicles also complement public transit, ensuring that seniors, low-income individuals and people with disabilities can reach a bus or rail hub without a grueling walk or an expensive, unreliable connection. And unlike traditional ride-hailing, Waymos do not refuse a ride based on a destination or the presence of a service animal, ensuring equitable access for the disabled.
Through collaborations with groups like the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL), Waymo has pioneered features that are not possible with traditional cars. This includes screen readers for the blind, custom vehicle sounds that help riders identify their specific car and adaptive navigation that considers mobility impairments at the point of drop-off.
For the estimated 10,000 Americans turning 65 every day, a fear of “losing the keys” can ignite a crisis of independence. Driverless cars act as “digital chauffeurs,” allowing seniors to maintain their freedom and age in place. It ensures that the golden years are defined by where a person wants to go, not by the expiration date on their driver’s license.
As mentioned above, a key beneficiary of driverless technologies are individuals with blind and low-vision accessibility. Waymo’s first-ever passenger on a fully autonomous public trip was Steve Mahan, who is legally blind. This technology removes the “transportation gap” for the blind community, providing door-to-door mobility services without needing to rely on the schedules of others.
How Government Can Pave the Path Forward for AV Tech
As autonomous vehicles expand into new cities in 2026, there are a few ways governments can help to ensure Americans reap the benefits and oversee safety standards:
- Deregulation: Federal and state governments should simplify rules with consistent, nationwide standards that replace the current regulatory quilt that slows down technological deployment.
- Modernization: Outdated laws written for a world of human-operated wheels and pedals must be updated to reflect technology with sensors and software.
- Collaboration: The government should partner with industry leaders like Waymo to broadly share safety data and build public trust, which is necessary for broader adoption of this nascent technology.
When American innovators are empowered to solve hard problems, what was once dreamed as “impossible” becomes ordinary. Waymo is a key example of such a vision for the autonomous vehicle industry. The company has secured key innovative advancements for the U.S. in this field, showing how visionaries deploying this new technology can improve safety, mobility and time management for people nationwide. Here’s to the next 17 years.
Image via Unsplash.