A recent study carried out by researchers at the University of Central Florida indicates that self-driving cars may be safer than human drivers under typical driving conditions. Nevertheless, the study also uncovered that autonomous vehicles struggle in low-light situations and when making turns.
The research, headed by Shengxuan Ding and Mohamed Abdel-Aty, examined data on over 2100 accidents from California and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) involving both self-driving cars and human drivers. The findings showed that autonomous vehicles generally displayed improved safety performance in most circumstances. However, when it came to driving at dawn and dusk, as well as making turns, self-driving cars were found to have a higher risk of crashes compared to human drivers.
This study has significant implications at a time when autonomous vehicles are already being tested and deployed in various US cities. Cruise, a company owned by GM, is looking to resume driverless car testing following a pedestrian-dragging incident earlier this year that resulted in the suspension of their operating permit in California. Meanwhile, Waymo, a Google spin-off, has been gradually expanding its robotaxi operations in cities such as Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco.
Despite the potential safety benefits of autonomous vehicles, the study highlighted the need to improve their performance in specific conditions such as low-light and turning scenarios. According to the researchers, this would involve enhancing weather and lighting sensors, as well as effectively integrating sensor data to enable safer driving under these circumstances.
However, experts have cautioned that the current autonomous vehicle accident database is limited, making it challenging to draw definitive conclusions about the overall safety performance of self-driving cars. Missy Cummings from George Mason University emphasized the need for more comprehensive reporting of autonomous vehicle accidents, as well as the potential for biased reporting from self-driving car companies.
It’s important to note that not all self-driving car crashes are reported to the police, especially if they involve minor incidents. This means that any comparisons between autonomous vehicle crashes and human driver crashes need to account for this factor. Furthermore, the specific environments in which autonomous vehicles operate make it difficult to generalize findings about their safety performance.
In conclusion, while self-driving cars may have the potential to be safer than human drivers in routine driving conditions, there are still significant challenges that need to be addressed, particularly in low-light and turning scenarios. The findings of this study underscore the importance of ongoing research and development to enhance the safety and reliability of autonomous vehicles.
Citations:
Ding, S., Abdel-Aty, M. “Nature Communications”. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-48526-4