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%>).

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