Study Explains How Autonomous Cars Are Safer Without Real Driver Assistance

Self-driving cars are becoming the pinnacle of comfort when it comes to driving. After all, who does not want a car that drives itself while you relax comfortably in the backseat? Now, a recent study shows that self-driving cars is safer alone without any assistance from a driver.

The study by the California Department of Motor Vehicles analyzed the performance of autonomous vehicles in public roads. The study focused in 11 different companies that produce self-driving cars: BMW, Bosch, LLC, GM Cruise, Delphi Automotive Systems, LLC, Ford, Google Auto and LLC/Waymo, Honda, Nissan North America, Inc, Mercedes-Benz Research & Development North America, Inc, Tesla Motors, Inc., and Volkswagen Group of America, Inc.

The study analyzed data of incidents and disengagements (times where humans have to retake the control of the wheel for safety purposes).

According to Futurism, this is the second time this type of study was published, meaning there are now points of comparison between two separate test. Regardless, the results are the same and proved that humans really are a danger to themselves.

Google's Waymo reported only two incidents during 10,000 miles of coverage. These are only due to emergency vehicles, weather conditions and debris.

Other vehicles such as Nissan, Cruise Automation and BMW had their own share of disengagements per a set number of miles. However, these vehicles all had the same "tests" over a variety of conditions. All of these vehicles showed very significant improvements through the years, even without human intervention.

The results showed that regulatory bodies will now have to consider a time when humans really do not have to be behind the wheel. This offers a completely new form of dialogue in the determination of policies concerning car safety.