Skip to main content

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

  • Study says New Jersey voters strongly support red light cameras
    April 18, 2012
    The National Coalition for Safer Roads (NCSR) has released new research showing that New Jersey residents who took part in a survey it commissioned overwhelmingly support the use of red light safety cameras. The poll found that 77 per cent back the use of cameras at busy intersections in New Jersey, with 43 per cent saying they ‘strongly support’ the cameras.
  • ITS America: building the infrastructure for V2X
    May 3, 2013
    By 2024, market penetration of factory fit DSRC-equipped vehicles in the US could rise to 30 per cent, according to US Department of Transportation AASHTO Deployment Analysis 2012, enabling widespread data communications services and kick-starting a national DSRC infrastructure. The question is: who will pay for the infrastructure in the first place? In an interview with Steve Bayless, director of telecomms and telematics at ITS America, Telematics Update investigated which key investors will benefit from s
  • AVs could be ‘terrorist threat’, says security firm Advent IM
    June 19, 2019
    Terrorists who have hijacked vans and trucks to drive into crowds – causing death and injury to pedestrians – could use autonomous vehicles (AVs) to achieve a similar result with no risk to themselves. That was the warning from Mike Gillespie, MD of security firm Advent IM. Speaking this week at the IFSEC International 2019 security conference in London, he said: “Imagine that you don’t have to get in the vehicle, you don’t have to be in the same city – or even the same country.” They would still be a
  • The real case for driverless mobility
    May 13, 2024
    What will automated driving really be good for? Bern Grush of Urban Robotics Foundation offers his thoughts on the big issues around its implementation - and suggests a newly-published book might point the way forward