Independent Audits of Waymo's Safety Case and Remote Assistance Programs (waymo.com)

Waymo announced it has become the first autonomous driving company to complete independent, third‑party audits of both its safety case program and its remote assistance (Fleet Response) operations. TÜV SÜD — a global safety testing and certification firm — spent months reviewing Waymo’s policies, implementation and operations, including site visits and multiple interviews. The audits confirm Waymo’s processes align with AVSC best practices and the international Systems and Software Assurance standard ISO 15026‑2, reinforcing Waymo’s claim that its development and operational controls are robust, evidence‑based and consistently applied. Technically, the safety case audit examined the end‑to‑end lifecycle: claim creation, evidence identification, operationalization and program management, with independent implementation checks to verify real‑world practice matches documentation. The Fleet Response review confirmed training, procedures and use cases meet AVSC remote‑assistance guidance, while noting the Waymo Driver remains in control and uses human input only as contextual augmentation. For the AI/ML and autonomous‑vehicle communities this is significant: it demonstrates a repeatable, standards‑aligned approach to proving system safety through documented evidence and independent verification — a model that could accelerate regulatory acceptance, raise industry benchmarking, and improve public trust in deployed autonomy.