Reuters reports on a US study which suggests that the majority of road accidents are caused by mistakes that self-driving systems are no better able to cope with than humans. The research, from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, throws doubts on claims that fully automated driving will virtually eliminate crashes. One third of accidents analysed involved driver-related issues such as incapacitation or sensing and perception errors, mistakes unlikely to be made by autonomous vehicles. However most crashes resulted from complex errors such as wrong assumptions, incorrect manoeuvres or a combination of mistakes. The news site quotes a co-author of the report who suggests that unless the issues are addressed, self-driving cars ‘won’t deliver massive safety benefits’. Read more.
Self-driving cars may prevent only a minority of accidents - research casts doubt on safety claims for autonomous vehicles
- Theme:
- Content: innovation, regulation and markets
- Region:
- Americas
- Series:
- Regulatory Watch
