Top Trend: Going Off the Driverless Cliff: NOT ROAD-READY: SELF-DRIVING CARS IN 392 CRASHES

From 1 July, 2021, through May 15 of this year, cars with so-called “advanced driver-assistance technologies”—essentially self-driving cars— were involved in 392 crashes, more than one a day, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Five people died in the accidents; six were seriously injured.

Tesla’s “Autopilot” state-of-the-art self-driving system was involved in 273 of the crack-ups, about 70 percent. The system was at work in all five of the lethal accidents.

Honda’s cars were in 90 of the incidents, Subarus in 10. BMW, Ford, General Motors’ cars, Hyundai, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen each logged five or less.

Many of the incidents were minor fender-benders or bumper taps in parking lots or city traffic, the NHTSA said.

In more than 40 cases, the self-driving cars were stopped and hit by another vehicle. In 11, the self-driving car was driving straight ahead and smacked into a vehicle that suddenly changed lanes.

Cars equipped with “advanced driver-assistance” can steer, brake, and set speeds by themselves, but drivers have to be alert and ready to take over if something unexpected happens. 

The NHTSA’s study required reports on any accident in which automated driving features were in use within 30 seconds of impact.

However, the study was not able to differentiate between incidents in which drivers were paying attention or were lulled by the technology into thinking the cars would take care of themselves.

Last year, the NHTSA ordered automakers to report data on crashes involving self-driving and driver-assisting cars.

“Until last year, NHTSA’s response to autonomous vehicles and driver assistance was passive,” Matthew Wansley, a Cardozo School of Law professor who studies autonomous driving technologies, told The New York Times.

“This is the first time the federal government has directly collected crash data on these technologies,” he said.

The study was prompted by some well-publicized Tesla crashes in which a total of 14 people died.

About 830,000 Teslas on U.S. roads are equipped with Autopilot or something similar, more than any other brand.

Last November, Tesla recalled 12,000 vehicles involved in a beta test of a software update when it was discovered the update might accidentally activate the cars’ emergency braking systems.

TREND FORECAST: Fully autonomous vehicles won’t be common for decades to come.

Individually automated functions—braking, parking, and so on—are being added to conventional cars already. More of these bits and pieces will be added steadily, but integrating them will be a separate challenge.

Creating cars able to respond instantaneously to the carelessness and freak behavior of other drivers will be the final, very high hurdle to overcome.