Self-driving or autonomous cars are considered the imminent standard for enhancing traffic safety and convenience. In a world evolving towards automation, driverless cars are gaining popularity. However, many consumers do not feel comfortable buying them due to a lack of charging stations, electrical fires, and hours of charging time on long road trips.
Call 213-596-9642. Get a Free Legal Consultation Today
This emerging technology offers both advantages and risks that necessitate careful consideration. In this blog post, top Los Angeles automated car crash lawyer Michael Ehline will cover statistics concerning driverless car accidents and adaptive cruise control to gain a deeper insight into their societal impact and safety features.
Given that roughly 90% of car accidents stem from human error, autonomous vehicle technology holds the potential for a multitude of benefits and advantages over human drivers, including:
- More Drive Time for Old Folks: Prolonging the driving years of the aging baby boomer population.
- Reducing Human Error: Substantially diminishing car crashes attributed to human error.
- Reducing Traffic: Alleviating traffic congestion.
- Reduced Traffic Accidents: Autonomous vehicles have the potential to significantly reduce the number of accidents caused by human error, which is a leading cause of road accidents. This can result in fewer injuries and fatalities on the road.
- Improved Traffic Management: Autonomous vehicles are able to communicate with each other and traffic management systems. The goal is better traffic flow and reduced congestion. This benefits everyone on the road, not just those not riding in autonomous vehicles.
- Increased Mobility: Granting increased mobility to visually or physically impaired people.
- Lower Fuel Consumption: Autonomous vehicles are programmed to operate efficiently, which can lead to reduced fuel consumption and lower emissions and environmental benefits. (Decreasing air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.).
- Time Savings: Passengers in autonomous vehicles can use their travel time more productively to work, read, relax, or engage in other activities during their commute, which could lead to increased productivity and a better quality of life.
- Cost Savings: Autonomous vehicles can lead to cost savings in various ways. Fewer accidents mean lower insurance premiums and shared autonomous vehicles can reduce the overall cost of transportation for individuals.
- Parking Efficiency: Self-driving cars can drop passengers off at their destination and then find parking spaces more efficiently, reducing the need for extensive parking infrastructure in urban areas.
- Consistency: Autonomous vehicles are consistent in their behavior, which can lead to more predictable and safer road conditions. However, experts do warn a communication systems failure could have devastating consequences.
Tesla has consistently fine-tuned its driver-assistance software but has also taken the remarkable action of removing radar sensors from new vehicles and deactivating them in existing ones. This decision has left these vehicles without a crucial sensor, all while Elon Musk advocated for a simplified hardware configuration amidst the global shortage of computer chips.
However, as autonomous driving technology advances, concerns about its overall effectiveness in reducing traffic collisions exist. The National Law Review reports that for every 1 million miles driven, about 9.1 self-driving car crashes occur in the US. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) report suggests that autonomous vehicles may prevent approximately one-third of all car accidents. This is not the number the global autonomous vehicle market industry wanted, but it’s a start.
Examining Self-Driving Car Accident Data for 2023
In the following sections, we’ll delve into the self-driving car accident statistics for the year 2023. Additionally, we will furnish vital details on the process of filing a civil claim for autonomous vehicle accidents and related injuries in California. Our top-rated injury lawyers will take steps to ensure you receive the appropriate financial compensation from the autonomous vehicles industry, as well as negligence arising from human-driven cars.
Self-Driving Car Accident Statistics in California and the United States for 2023
New technology numbers are incomplete but nonetheless provide key statistics about the increased safety offered per million miles driven compared to human cars. According to a recent report issued by the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), as of June 16, 2023, a total of 612 autonomous vehicle collisions have been documented in the Golden State.
The most recent crash data consists of at least 17 reported fatal incidents, 11 since May 2022. This also includes five serious injuries and related property damage. It’s important to note that self-driving car accident reports predating January 1, 2019, have been archived and may not be encompassed within this total.
California Issues?
A study by the Rand Corporation shows that autonomous vehicles will require several hundred million miles of driving to assess their safety accurately. In 2020, Waymo’s autonomous vehicles logged a cumulative distance of 6.1 million miles in California, experiencing a disengagement rate of 0.076 per 1,000 miles. Another study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety suggests that autonomous vehicles could prevent as much as 34% of all fatal accidents in the United States. However, as of January 2021, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been involved in more than 80 accidents in California alone.
Here are some additional self-driving car accident statistics from the United States:
In 2022, nearly 400 (392) self-driving car accidents were recorded during 11 months. Of the 392 autonomous vehicle collisions, 273 involved Tesla vehicles, constituting approximately 70% of reported driving task incidents. So, this statistic alone would indicate that the risk is lessened with AI behind the wheel when comparing human drivers maneuvering through traffic.
Motorcycles and Road Safety?
Are self-driving cars safer around pedestrians, bikes, and motorcycles? According to a discussion by Utah authorities: “It’s very dangerous for motorcycles to be around Teslas.” (Source, Utah Department of Public Safety.)
These Tesla accidents occurred while the vehicles were utilizing the following technologies:
- Autopilot
- Full Self-Driving
- Traffic-Aware Cruise Control
- Other driver-assist systems have some degree of control over speed and steering.
As of June 2022, Tesla had approximately 830,000 vehicles equipped with these systems on the road, although it is believed that this number has increased since then. Automotive engineers insist that self driving crashes will increase as cars on the road increase. So, you are cautioned to look at reported injuries through the lens of what they are compared to human drivers.
Fatal Self-Driving Car Accident Data for 2023
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) published a government report in the previous year outlining 11 fatalities that transpired over a span of four months in 2022 due to self-driving accidents.
The following are the confirmed statistics regarding fatal self-driving accidents as reported by the NHTSA:
- Ten out of the 11 fatalities were associated with vehicles manufactured by Tesla.
- The remaining fatality involved a Ford pickup.
These self-driving car accident fatalities encompassed four motorcycle collisions that transpired during the spring and summer of 2022, with the following locations:
- Two incidents in Florida
- One incident in California
- One incident in Utah
Notably, the NHTSA’s data did not conclusively establish whether autonomous technology was the root cause of these tragic accidents or whether driver error might have played a role in these unfortunate incidents.
Collision Data for Self-Driving Cars in 2023
Reports indicate that 25 companies are presently operating fully autonomous vehicles. In the year 2022, a total of 130 crashes involving fully autonomous vehicles were documented.
Here’s a detailed breakdown of the 130 accidents involving fully self-driving cars:
- Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, reported 62 of these accidents.
- Transdev Alternative Services recorded 34 accidents.
- Cruise LLC, under the control of General Motors, accounted for 23 casualties.
Notably, Waymo, the autonomous vehicle division of Alphabet Inc., confirmed to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) that it maintained a fleet of over 700 autonomous vehicles as of the year 2022.
The 5 Levels of Self-Driving Technology
Self-driving vehicles are categorized into different levels of automation. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), self-driving vehicle technology is classified as follows:
- Level 0: Momentary Driver Assistance – This level offers brief driver assistance through warnings, alerts, or emergency safety interventions while the driver remains fully engaged and attentive.
- Level 1: Driver Technology – Continuous assistance is provided for either acceleration/braking or steering, with the driver remaining fully engaged and attentive.
- Level 2: Driver Technology – Continuous assistance is provided for both acceleration/braking AND steering while the driver remains fully engaged and attentive.
- Level 3: Conditional Automation – The system handles all driving tasks at this level while the driver can take over if requested. If the system encounters a situation, it cannot manage and prompts the driver. The driver must be ready to resume all aspects of driving and make efforts to avoid car accidents.
- Level 4: High Automation – High automated driving system technology takes over all driving tasks, and the passenger no longer needs to operate the vehicle. However, this system can only operate the vehicle in specific service areas, not universally. No human driver is required.
- Level 5: Full Automation – Full automation technology manages all driving tasks without any need for passenger intervention. It can operate the vehicle universally, under all conditions, and on all roadways; no human driver is necessary for operation.
Benefits of Self-Driving Vehicles and Technology
The NHTSA Highlights the Current and Future Benefits of Self-Driving Cars:
- Enhanced Safety: Self-driving technology can significantly increase safety by removing the human driver from the chain of events that often lead to car accidents.
- Active Safety Systems: Advanced driver assistance systems offer lower levels of automation, helping drivers anticipate and avoid imminent dangers from car accidents.
- Collective Safety Technologies: These innovations protect drivers and passengers and extend safety benefits to bicyclists and pedestrians.
- Enhanced Mobility: Self-driving cars can improve mobility for seniors, as well as individuals with disabilities, and even minorities in underrepresented communities.
- Economic and Societal Benefits: A study by the NHTSA has revealed that motor vehicle crashes cost billions annually. Significant cost savings can be achieved by reducing accidents through autonomous vehicle technology. Reduced fuel costs and compliance with traffic laws threaten the administrative state, which is parasitic to workers and job creators breaking the law or enforcing some safety regulations, etc.
- Transformed Land Use: Vehicle automation may alter the demand for individualized parking spaces and lots, leading to increased use of automated ride-sharing and shuttle fleets and revolutionizing land use.
- Vehicle Electrification: Self-driving technology dovetails with vehicle electrification, offering opportunities to enhance efficiency and reduce air pollutants in the autonomous vehicles transport sector.
- Efficiency and Convenience: Automated driving systems don’t just reduce crash rates and their attendant serious injuries. Experts think the worldwide AV market can improve fuel efficiency and reduce vehicle emissions. Once optimized, these communication systems can help contribute to convenience and environmental sustainability.
Please refer to our recent blog for a comprehensive list of benefits offered by self-driving cars provided by Ehline Law Firm.
Future of Autonomous Vehicles and Car Accidents?
Self-driving cars get into accidents routinely, and we can glean important insights from the common scenarios and statistics related to these incidents:
- Common Self-Driving Accident Scenario: Recent self-driving car statistics reveal that rear-end collisions are the most common type of accident involving self-driving cars.
- Human Intervention with Uber’s Self-Driving Cars: Uber’s self-driving vehicles often require the most human intervention among autonomous cars.
- Route Complexity and Machine Learning: It has been observed that the more complex the route self-driving cars or autonomous vehicles navigate, the more refined their self-driving system becomes.
- Public Perception of Self-Driving Technology: Despite the advancements in self-driving cars, studies show that many Americans remain cautious:
- A survey indicates that 56% of Americans feel unsafe in a driverless vehicle.
- 76% of Americans desire Congress to mandate the installation of safety mechanisms in self-driving cars.
Ehline Law Firm boasts a team of experienced and successful car accident attorneys available 24/7 to address your inquiries and help you secure the maximum financial compensation for your injuries. Protect your rights and take advantage of a free consultation with a self-driving car accident lawyer. We are committed to fighting car insurance companies. Our job is to force defendants, not burden you with unpaid medical bills and lost wages, and get you fully compensated in the process.
Schedule a Free Consultation With Ehline Law Group Today!
To schedule a confidential consultation with a self-driving car accident lawyer at your convenience, please get in touch with us at (213) 596-9642. We are ready to work according to your schedule. We are unwavering in our dedication to vigorously advocate for justice and the highest possible financial compensation for your car accident injury claim.
Are you prepared to file a claim and pursue justice through a financial damages award? Our proficient attorneys are accessible online or by phone, poised to assist you now with a track record of securing over $150,000,000.00 in settlements and verdicts for clients like you. Let our remarkable success rate work for you, too. Our car accident lawyers are the optimal choice following a motor vehicle injury, and we are ready to take your call 24/7. Contact us today at 833 LETS-SUE to embark on the path to justice.