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%>).

Related Content

  • August 16, 2013
    Special ACEM-Rail sessions at ETC 2013
    The European Transport Conference moves to its new home of Goethe University in Frankfurt for 2013’s event on 30 September - 2 October. Special sessions on the Automated and Cost Effective Maintenance for Railway (ACEM-Rail) project will take place on 30 September, looking at ACEM-Rail instrumentation and ACEM-Rail infrastructure management ACEM-Rail is an FP7 project which runs through 2010-2013. The final goal is to reduce the costs and the interaction of maintenance operations with railway services as w
  • October 21, 2014
    Dutch Automotive Week 2015 announced
    The Netherlands’ high profile international Automotive Week, which takes place from 25 March to 1 April 2015, will highlight innovation in mobility and the development of new technology, leading concepts and the interaction between the road user, roadside and vehicle. The week’s activities will mainly be focused on national and international professionals, with events including the Automotive Congress, the opening of a new, national innovative traffic management centre and demonstrations on and around th
  • February 26, 2014
    Maintenance free passenger information board
    deZign, an innovation in the field of electronic passenger information systems, is a maintenance-free display based on electronic ink (EInk) technology. It requires no energy while displaying fixed content.
  • June 23, 2014
    Automated Vehicles Symposium 2014
    The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) and Transport Research Board (TRB) are hosting the Automated Vehicles Symposium 2014 from 15-17 July at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport. The symposium will focus on challenges and opportunities related to the increasing automation of motor vehicles as well as the environments in which they operate. The symposium will build on the 2012 and 2013 workshops on the state-of-the-art in road vehicle automation research and will explore a