In continuing coverage of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study released Thursday showing autonomous vehicles may only prevent one-third of vehicle incidents caused by human error, Reuters reports, “Companies working on self-driving vehicles have criticized” the study, “arguing that the study has underestimated the technology’s capabilities.” The Partners for Automated Vehicle Education “quickly responded” to the IIHS study by saying its member companies program their autonomous vehicle systems to account for a wide range of crash scenarios. The group insisted that autonomous vehicles could prevent 72 percent of crashes caused by human error. Additionally, the Alliance for Automotive Innovation “said that even reducing traffic fatalities by a third would be something to be proud of, but that its members aim to do more.”
Forbes reports around “94% of all accidents are caused by human error,” but “Despite the continuing progress in the Lidar, sensors, cameras and other navigational tools, the technology can’t anticipate or counteract all driver mistakes.” Commenting on the IIHS study, the group’s Vice President for Research Jessica Cicchino said, “It’s likely that fully self-driving cars will eventually identify hazards better than people, but we found that this alone would not prevent the bulk of crashes.”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
