AVs need to be ‘100 to 1,000 times better than humans’, says Intel

Autonomous vehicles (AV) need to have a robotic system which is better than a human driver, because society will not accept machines killing people, according to Intel. Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las Vegas, Intel senior vice president Amnon Shashua said AVs probably need to be 100 to 1,000 times better than the human experience - which presents the question of how to validate such a system. “When you do your calculation, the amount of data you need to collect to verify somethi
January 14, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
Autonomous vehicles (AV) need to have a robotic system which is better than a human driver, because society will not accept machines killing people, according to 4243 Intel.


Speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las Vegas, Intel senior vice president Amnon Shashua said AVs probably need to be 100 to 1,000 times better than the human experience - which presents the question of how to validate such a system.

“When you do your calculation, the amount of data you need to collect to verify something at a certain probability is one over that probability. If you do the calculation correct, comparing it to humans, the probability is that it will be billions of miles you will need to collect,” he added.

Shashua emphasised that a balance is needed between over-regulation and under-regulation is needed and that the US suffers from the latter.

Chris Urmson, co-founder and CEO at Aurora, insisted that the 324 US Department of Transportation has been supportive of the technology.

“I think it’s more about a thoughtful approach to talking about the safety regulations. Intel and 4279 Mobileye have done a good job at putting forward a first thought about this with the RSS (Responsibility-Sensitive Safety) and I think we need to have more of that kind of conversation,” Urmson added.

Both companies are part of the newly formed PAVE coalition, a group of private sector companies, academic institutions and other stakeholders whose stated ambition is to educate the public and policy makers on AVs.

Deborah A.P. Hersman, president and CEO of the National Safety Council, said: “It's in the best interest of the industry to engage with mobility advocates and other organisations and have a diverse group of stakeholders at the table because those differences will help create a positive path forward.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Do we need a new approach to ITS and traffic management?
    January 31, 2012
    In an article which has implications for the European Electronic Toll Service, ASECAP's Kallistratos Dionelis asks whether the approach we currently take to major ITS system implementations is always the best or healthiest. I was asked recently to write a paper on the technology-oriented future of transport. To paraphrase, I started with: "The goal of European policy-makers is to establish a transport system which meets society's economic, social and environmental needs, satisfying in parallel a rising dema
    Read More
  • London conference hears EC calls for input on MaaS
    February 22, 2018
    “Tell us what you need the European Commission to do to help Mobility as a Service (MaaS), and I promise I will do my best to fix it,” was the call from Paivi Wood, policy officer in the EC’s DG Move to delegates to ITS International’s second MaaS Market Conference. Several delegates identified a lack of co-operation by bus, train, taxi and other transit companies as the biggest hurdle to implementing MaaS in many parts of Europe and while pledging to act where she could, Wood said such legislation would b
    Read More
  • 5G or not 5G?
    April 16, 2019
    Just a few years ago, there was only one solution in terms of communications protocols for delivering vehicle connectivity. Now, road operators and vehicle manufacturers face choices – including a moral choice, perhaps. Jason Barnes looks at the current state of play There is a debate raging in the ITS world over future communications protocols. Asfinag, Austria’s national strategic road operator, has announced it will from 2020 be using ITS-G5 to support cooperative ITS (C-ITS) applications (‘First thin
    Read More
  • Veronica O. Davis: "There really has to be a better way"
    November 7, 2023
    Is it possible to change a system whose attitudes seem entrenched? Veronica O. Davis, author of this year’s must-read transport book Inclusive Transportation, talks to Adam Hill
    Read More

Highlighted Content