Cars

New study claims that self-driving cars would only prevent one-third of crashes in the US

Self-driving cars may be the future, but we’re not there yet.

by
Josiah Motley
June 8, 2020

drive.ai self driving van in front of buildings

Image: Drive.ai

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

According to a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and reported by Reuters, self-driving cars may help with the number of crashes in the US, but maybe not at the rates many people expected.

The study found that one-third were “the exclusive result of sensing and perception errors, or driver incapacitation,” while the other two-thirds made up a variety of errors that self-driving systems are currently not equipped to handle. These include wrong assumptions about other drivers’ behaviors, incorrect evasive maneuvers, and a variety of other issues.

Jessica Cicchino, IIHS vice president for research and a co-author of the study, notes that “[The] goal was to show that if you don’t deal with those issues, self-driving cars won’t deliver massive safety benefits.”

The study looked at more than 5,000 police-reported crashes and it should be noted that IIHS is a research group funded by US insurers.

Another group, Partners for Automated Vehicle Education, has come out to say that the study has issues, and that it incorrectly assumes what self-driving vehicles can accomplish, and that the technology used in self-driving vehicles can be used for more than just sensing and perception errors.

Their study states that nearly 72% of crashes could be avoidable, a stark contrast to the IIHS report.

While both of these studies bring up interesting points, it’s important to note that an automotive autonomous future will require a hard look at our current transportation infrastructure.

What do you think? Do you believe self-driving cars will drastically reduce car accidents? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.