Skip to main content

An analysis of real-world crashes involving self-driving vehicles

A study by the University of Michigan performed a preliminary analysis of the cumulative on-road safety record of self-driving vehicles for three of the ten companies that are currently approved for such vehicle testing in California (Google, Delphi, and Audi). The analysis compared the safety record of these vehicles with the safety record of all conventional vehicles in the US for 2013 (adjusted for underreporting of crashes that do not involve a fatality).
October 30, 2015 Read time: 2 mins
A study by the University of Michigan performed a preliminary analysis of the cumulative on-road safety record of self-driving vehicles for three of the ten companies that are currently approved for such vehicle testing in California (1691 Google, 7207 Delphi, and 2125 Audi).

The analysis compared the safety record of these vehicles with the safety record of all conventional vehicles in the US for 2013 (adjusted for underreporting of crashes that do not involve a fatality).

Taking into account the fact that the distance accumulated by self-driving vehicles is still relatively low compared with conventional vehicles and that the vehicles were driven only in limited conditions, the study came up with some interesting results.

These, including the facts that self-driving vehicles may have a higher crash rate per million miles travelled than conventional vehicles, and self-driving vehicles were not at fault in any crashes they were involved in, are available in the report abstract on the university’s website. (link %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 oLinkExternal http://www.umich.edu/~umtriswt/PDF/UMTRI-2015-34_Abstract_English.pdf Visit Umich false http://www.umich.edu/~umtriswt/PDF/UMTRI-2015-34_Abstract_English.pdf false false%>).

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Safer roads with the HV2 safety barrier from Saferoads
    March 21, 2018
    The durability of a steel barrier and the ballasting weight of concrete come together in the HV2 hybrid freestanding temporary safety barrier from Saferoads. The HV2 is half the weight per metre of a typical concrete barrier, according to the Australian manufacturer Saferoads. The system has passed MASH TL-4, 10T at 90km/h completely freestanding with deflection of 2.2m. The company says that because of its size - 5.8m long and rotationally symmetrical – and that it needs no additional parts, the HV2 is
  • Honda offers World Congress delegates autonomous vehicle ride
    September 10, 2014
    Honda has a big presence at this year’s World Congress with a large display in the exhibition hall and live on-road demonstrations. One of the key exhibits is a prototype in-car system through which android and Apple smartphones can be connected to, displayed on and controlled by the car’s standard instrumentation. Video demonstrations highlight a family of V2X communication technology that warns car drivers, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists if they are on a collision course with each other.
  • NFC shipments will boom to 400m in 2014, says Eurosmart
    November 19, 2013
    Following expected shipments of more than 250 million units in 2013, Eurosmart forecasts that more than 400 million NFC secure elements to be shipped in 2014 (see p9). NFC secure elements include NFC enabled UICCs and embedded secure elements and other form factors of NFC enabled secure elements. Eurosmart believes the NFC ecosystem is maturing: currently mobiles with NFC are available from almost all global handset manufacturers and deployment of contactless POS (point-of-sale) terminals is ongoing. In add
  • Spire Payments launches five new payment solutions at CARTES 2014
    October 24, 2014
    Spire Payments has announced it is to launch five new payment solutions at next week’s CARTES SECURE CONNEXIONS 2014 in Paris.