In its first-ever release of large-scale data about these burgeoning systems, the federal government revealed Wednesday that nearly 400 car crashes in the United States involved advanced driver-assistance technologies.
Six people died and five were seriously injured in 362 incidents from July 1 of last year to May 15 of this year.
As advanced driving systems become more commonplace, the federal agency is trying to determine the safety of them. A number of car manufacturers have rolled out automated components in recent years, including features that allow you to take your hands off the steering wheel and parallel park.
NHTSA said that Honda vehicles were involved in 90 incidents. Ford Motor, General Motor, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, Hyundai andPorsche each had five or fewer.
The technologies hold great promise to improve safety, but we need to understand how these vehicles are performing in real-world situations. Our investigators will be able to identify potential defect trends quicker.
The data collected so far doesn't take into account factors like the number of cars from each manufacturer that are on the road and equipped with these types of technologies.
He said that the data may raise more questions than it answers.
In the United States, about 830,000 of the company's cars are equipped with autopilot or other driver-assistance technologies.
Ford, GM, BMW and others have similar advanced systems that allow hands-free driving, but fewer of them have been sold. Over the last two decades, these companies have sold millions of cars with individual components of driver assist systems. lane keeping and adaptive cruise control are included in the components.
NHTSA will continue to collect data on crashes involving these types of features and technologies and will use it as a guide in making any rules or requirements for how they should be designed and used.
The data was collected as a result of an order NHTSA issued a year ago that required the reporting of crashes involving cars with advanced driver-assist systems.
Over the last six years, there have been crashes and deaths involving the use of the autopilot feature. NHTSA expanded its investigation last week into whether Autopilot has technological and design flaws. There have been at least nine crashes that resulted in the deaths of people since the beginning of the year. It had opened a preliminary investigation into 16 incidents in which cars under autopilot crashed into emergency vehicles.
NHTSA collected data on crashes and incidents involving fully automated vehicles that are still in development for the most part, but are being tested on public roads. G.M., Ford and other traditional manufacturers are among the companies that make these vehicles.
There were 130 incidents involving these types of vehicles. The one that resulted in a serious injury was the only one that resulted in injuries. Many of the crashes involving automated vehicles resulted in fender benders because they were operated at low speeds and in the city.
There were 62 incidents in which Waymo was involved. G.M.'s Cruise division was involved in 23. Pony.ai, a start-up that makes automated test vehicles, recalled three of their test vehicles because of a crash.
NHTSA has come under fire in the past for not being more assertive with the auto industry.
The agency is gathering information to determine if the systems are an unreasonable risk to safety.
Drivers need to be alert and ready to take control of the vehicle at any time, as an advanced driver-assistance system can steer, brake and accelerate vehicles on its own.
The systems allow drivers to lose control of the car and lull them into thinking they are driving their own car. Drivers may not be prepared to take control if the technology fails.
NHTSA requires companies to give data on crashes when advanced driver-assistance systems and automated technologies are in use. It's not easy to determine whether these systems reduce crashes or improve safety because of the data that's available.
The agency didn't collect data that would allow researchers to determine if using these systems is safer than turning them off.
The first chief innovation officer for the Department of Transportation, Dr. Gerdes, asked what the baseline was against which they were comparing the data.
The goal shouldn't be to compare these systems with humans.
Bryant Walker Smith is an associate professor of law and engineering at the University of South Carolina.
He said that crashes on our roads are comparable to plane crashes. We don't wantComparison is not what we want If there are crashes that are caused by these driving systems, that is a problem that we need to know about.
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