Autonomous Cars Show Growing Potential to Reduce Road Deaths

Autonomous driving technology shows growing potential to prevent crashes, injuries, and deaths as safety systems and driverless vehicles expand in the United States.

“Those are encouraging signs for the future of driverless vehicles,” said Eric Teoh, director of statistical services at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and lead author of its autonomous-vehicle study.

Waymo robotaxis recorded 68% fewer police-reportable crashes than human drivers across four US cities and 81% fewer injury crashes per mile, while automatic emergency braking has cut pedestrian crashes by 27% and rear-end crashes by 50%. Road crashes kill about 1.16 million people globally each year, meaning a 50% reduction could potentially save around 580,000 lives annually. US authorities are also developing the country’s first performance and competency standards for autonomous vehicles through a three-year, $5 million programme, supporting efforts to assess and maintain safety as the technology expands.