Self-Driving Cars Won’t Avoid Most Crashes
Photo: Tumisu via Pixabay
While excitement has been gradually growing in anticipation of self-driving cars’ debut, you may be disappointed to learn that these vehicles won’t necessarily make roads much safer. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has found that self-driving cars may still be unable to avoid an astounding two-thirds of vehicle crashes.
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The IIHS’ findings on self-driving cars
In the IIHS’ new study, the organization looked at over 5,000 crashes reported by the police in the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey. The organization specifically examined collisions in which emergency medical services arrived at the scene and at least one vehicle needed to be towed.
The IIHS then divided the causes of the crashes into five separate categories: execution and performance errors, planning and deciding errors, predicting errors, sensing and perceiving errors, and incapacitation. They also found that 2 percent of the collisions could not be avoided, while 4 percent had no known cause.
After reviewing the survey, the IIHS determined that self-driving cars would be able to more easily detect vehicles and pedestrians on the road than drivers can. As such, these cars would not make sensing and perceiving errors, which comprise about 24 percent of crashes. Furthermore, incapacitation, which accounts for roughly 10 percent of collisions, would not be an issue for the vehicles.
However, self-driving cars would not be able to prevent crashes due to planning and deciding, predicting, or execution and performance errors. The IIHS accordingly believes that about 60 percent of collisions would still take place, even if every car on the road was autonomous.
Planning and deciding errors occur when drivers are too aggressive or don’t stick to the speed limit. If self-driving cars are designed to meet these drivers’ expectations, collisions will happen. In addition, these cars currently don’t have the technology to avoid making predicting or planning and deciding mistakes.
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Hopefully, developers figure out how to create self-driving cars that reduce more than just one-third of crashes. Nevertheless, even if the IIHS’ findings are correct, these cars could still lead to fewer collisions and safer roadways in the future.
Amanda Drago lives in West Chester, Ohio with her wonderful family, which includes her adorable dog, Coco. Amanda recently graduated from Miami University with degrees in both marketing and creative writing. However, if she was ever forced to change career paths, she imagines that she would train dogs for movies. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, writing, and watching Netflix. She also has a special place in her heart for theatre and purchases tickets to as many shows as she can. See more articles by Amanda.