Over the last few years we have seen the concept of autonomous driving emerge significantly in the sector automotive. We hear about it more and more often, as well as the fact that in certain geographical areas it is already possible to travel with autonomous driving.
Since this is autonomous driving (we remind you of our guide which explains the differences with assisted driving), our human survival instinct leads us to be wary of an automatic system that drives the vehicle in total autonomy. So studies on this are welcome ensure your safety.
Waymoa well-known company that operates in the self-driving car segment and is part of the group Alphabet, conducted a very interesting study precisely in this sense. The study is based on tests carried out by the company in the areas of Phoenix And San Francisco For compare security self-driving cars and those driven by humans.
The results are relatively surprising.
In summary we can say that the nightmare of all those who approach intelligent robots has come true, but in a positive sense. Autonomous driving resulted safer than the human oneas it has been involved in fewer accidents.
The graph you find below shows the percentage variations in accidents occurring with self-driving cars compared to accidents reported by the traffic police for self-driving cars. Specifically, one was observed 85% reduction or an accident rate with injuries of any type, equal to 6.8 times lower with autonomous driving compared to human driving.
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The incidence rate was equal to 0.41 per million of miles for autonomous driving compared to 2.78 for human reference. Furthermore, if we also consider accidents that did not cause injuries, we find a 57% reduction with autonomous driving.
In short, the data tells us that autonomous driving appears to be safer than human driving and, above all, it appears to be safer in a more consistent manner. especially for the most serious accidents.
This has a very significant value: it is not only a question of avoiding injuries, an obviously fundamental aspect, but also of reducing the impact on society of such accidents (fewer hospitalized patients, lower public spending on healthcare). Aspects that on large numbers, such as those resulting from car accidents in highly populated areas, can make a difference.
It therefore seems clear that you have to trust autonomous driving, at least according to what the studies conducted on the subject tell us. If you want learn more on Waymo’s tests, we suggest you read the complete scientific article published online.
