https://spectrum.ieee.org/are-self-driving-cars-safe
"Plenty of people remain spooked by autonomous vehicles, or AVs. Some experts
and policymakers have cautioned that AVs won’t necessarily make roads safer.
When it comes to partial or full autonomy, the picture isn’t entirely clear, in
part because there aren’t enough self-driving cars to make meaningful
apples-to-apples comparisons.
Yet mounting research suggests that self-driving cars crash significantly less
often than people, and with far fewer injuries. Evidence also shows that
advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and other building blocks of
autonomy—some of which are already mandated on every new car—are also reducing
occupant and pedestrian injuries and deaths, along with insurance claims.
On the ADAS front, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety found that
automatic emergency braking (AEB) systems that recognize people in front of the
car cut pedestrian crashes by 27 percent. Those AEB systems are mandated for
all light vehicles in the U.S. by 2029, and more than 90 percent of new models
already comply under a voluntary automakers’ agreement. A separate IIHS study
found that automated braking greatly reduced rear-end crashes, by 50 percent,
and their injuries by 56 percent. The Highway Loss Data Institute found that
cars with AEB alone showed a 13 percent drop in property-damage claims. Cars
that bundled ADAS features, including automatic braking for pedestrians,
adaptive cruise control, and lane-departure warnings, saw claims reductions up
to 39 percent.
Move to Level 4 autonomy, and Waymo says its robotaxis have now given 20
million paid rides over 220 million miles, the equivalent of 250 lifetimes of
driving. In March, Waymo’s independent study showed 92 percent fewer fatal or
serious-injury crashes, a 13-fold reduction versus human drivers in comparable
city environments. That included 92 percent fewer pedestrian injuries, 83
percent fewer crashes with airbag deployments, and 82 percent fewer crashes
with any injuries whatsoever. That included a 96 percent reduction in
injury-causing crashes at intersections, among the deadliest environments for
any automobile."
Via Esther Schindler.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
