Automation

The People Fighting Technology That Could Save Thousands of Lives

Automation will destroy some jobs—and create others.

Veronique de Rugy | 7.23.2026 11:40 AM

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Somewhere in Los Angeles this year, someone will get home who otherwise wouldn't have. You'll never learn her name. There will be no headline, no celebration, no council resolution—only an unremarkable Tuesday that ends the way Tuesdays are supposed to end. The same non-story will eventually play out in more than a dozen other metro areas where autonomous vehicles will serve as cabs.

Last year, 36,640 Americans died in traffic crashes. That was the fewest since 2019, yet it still works out to more than 100 fatalities per day. The new generation of vehicles quietly accumulating mileage on our streets offers enormous promise to bring the number down even more and more each year.

Over at Marginal Revolution, economist Alex Tabarrok reminds us that as of March, Waymo's driverless vehicles had logged more than 220 million miles across five of its areas of operation. Compared with human drivers on the same roads over the same period, and counting every crash regardless of fault, the Waymo Driver was involved in 94 percent fewer crashes causing serious or fatal injury. It also experienced 82 percent fewer airbag deployments and........

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