Articles Tagged with Auto pilot on Teslas

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With the increase in the number of driverless cars on our roads,  there has been concern about the safety aspect of these vehicles, especially with Tesla’s spotty accident record with these cars.  However, new data seems to show that Waymo driverless cars have a much better track record when it comes to safety.

Waymo recently published the results of a research paper which shows that the company’s driverless cars were involved in fewer auto accidents, compared to human-driven cars.  The results were based on data involving more than 57 million incidents, compiled regardless of who was at fault in the accident.  The analysis of the data found that even compared to human drivers,  Waymo driverless taxis were involved in 92% fewer number of car accidents involving pedestrians. That’s encouraging news for transportation safety officials who have been looking for ways to reduce the number of pedestrians being killed in car accidents.

Waymo  taxis also  performed better in auto accidents involving  motorcyclists   and bicyclists.  There  were  82% fewer car accidents resulting in injuries involving motorcycles or bicycles and Waymo cars. There were also 96% fewer intersection accidents involving Waymo cars, and 85% fewer  auto accidents involving serious injuries.

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Motorists driving cars with partial automation soon learn to adapt to the various safeguards that are present in these systems, possibly increasing their car accident risks.

According to a new study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, drivers are very quick to learn ways to circumvent the limits or safeguards set by the partial automation systems in their cars. Vehicles with partial automation systems require motorists to continue to pay attention to the task of driving and step in when there needs to be an intervention.  However, an analysis of several partial automation systems in automobiles show that this is not always the case.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety researchers focused on a number of partial automation systems, including  Volvo’s  Pilot Assist System and Tesla’s Auto Pilot system.  In the Volvo system, the researchers found that drivers were often distracted by snacking and checking their phones while the system was at work. They were also likely to get more distracted as they became use to the system and as they learned to get around the limitations imposed by the system.  Drivers using Tesla’s Auto Pilot found ways to get around the warning system before it escalated into a full blown intervention. They continued to engage in distracting behaviors only stepping in to take  minimum actions to stop warnings or alerts issued by the system.

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