In the past, it was emphasized that self-driving vehicles are safer than human driving.WaymoEarlier, Swiss insurance company Swiss ReCooperation, claiming that the proportion of insurance claims caused by its unmanned autonomous vehicles is far lower than that caused by human driving.
Swiss Re is investigating collision liability claims arising from the operation of Waymo vehicles with a mileage of more than 2530 million miles (approximately 4072 million kilometers). Compared with human driving data with a cumulative mileage of more than 2000 billion miles (approximately 3219 billion kilometers) and a total claim amount of more than US$50 (approximately NT$1634 million), the results show that autonomous vehicles reduce the risk of financial losses by approximately 88% compared to human driving, and the proportion of personal injuries is reduced by 92%.
In addition, Swiss Re compared the driving data of Waymo's autonomous vehicles with the driving conditions of vehicles equipped with advanced assisted driving systems (including blind spot warnings, automatic emergency braking, and driver assistance functions) operated by humans. The results showed that autonomous vehicles reduce the risk of financial losses by approximately 86% compared to human driving, while the proportion of personal injuries is reduced by 90%, highlighting that human operation may still become the largest influencing variable in vehicle collisions.
However, this report still has certain errors. For example, Waymo's actual operation time is still relatively short, so the total mileage is significantly different from the corresponding mileage of human driving. Secondly, Waymo's current service is still mainly in urban areas, but many traffic accidents actually occur in rural areas. Therefore, if the relevant data of Waymo is viewed over a longer period of time, or even more data is included, different statistical results may appear.
And from TeslaRecently released 2024 Second Quarter Vehicle Safety ReportFrom a historical perspective, it is emphasized that when the owner turns on the Autopilot automatic assisted driving function, a vehicle accident may occur for every 688 million miles (about 1107.23 million kilometers).
Comparing the latest statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), a vehicle accident may occur for every 67 miles (about 107.8 million kilometers) traveled in the United States, indicating that Tesla vehicles are 10.3 times safer than ordinary vehicles when the Autopilot automatic assisted driving function is turned on.
However, Tesla still emphasizes that vehicle safety still depends on the active safety of the user during operation. Autopilot automatic assisted driving and FSD supervised fully automatic driving technology are mainly used for auxiliary purposes. It also means that only by ensuring active and passive safety at the same time can the safety of car owners, passengers, and road users be guaranteed.
