A recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Central Florida has found that self-driving cars are generally safer than those driven by humans. However, the study also revealed that autonomous vehicles are more prone to accidents in certain situations.
The study, conducted by Mohamed Abdel-Aty and Shengxuan Ding, compared accident data from 2,100 autonomous vehicles and 35,133 human-driven vehicles between 2016 and 2022. The results showed that self-driving cars were involved in fewer accidents overall.
According to the researchers, autonomous vehicles were less likely to be involved in accidents while performing routine driving tasks, such as maintaining lane positions and adjusting to traffic flow. They were also shown to be safer when hit from behind or from the side.
However, the study also found that self-driving cars were more than five times more likely to have an accident during low-light conditions at dawn or dusk. Additionally, when turning, they were nearly two times more likely to be involved in an accident compared to human-driven cars.
This research comes amid a growing interest in self-driving cars, with the UK passing a new law in May to allow them on the roads by 2026. The law aims to create jobs and improve road safety by reducing human error, which is responsible for 88% of road collisions, according to the Department for Transport.
Despite this progress, there have been several high profile crashes involving self-driving cars. Last week, a self-driving car crashed into a police vehicle in California while officers were responding to a fatal collision.
In a separate UK study, the Institute of Mechanical Engineers found that seven out of ten people would be uncomfortable traveling in an autonomous vehicle with no human control. Concerns about how the car would handle accidents were among the top worries, with 29% of respondents expressing concern.
While self-driving cars may offer a promising solution to reducing human error on the roads, it is clear that further research and development is needed to address their limitations in certain situations.