Opinion
It just got easier to find out who caused that car accident
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...better data could induce better driving practices and lead to safer transportation with significantly lower insurance and overall costs to society.
By Vasant Dhar
While it is difficult to predict when autonomous vehicles (AVs) will blend into our everyday lives, regulators appear receptive to the technology, publishing first-ever guidelines earlier this week that open the door to large-scale improvements in the transportation ecosystem.
What is certain about the AV revolution is that the new form of data and analytics their onboard systems provide will significantly improve how we determine fault and resolve disputes. Equally important, the big data from AVs can provide insights into how to prevent accidents and save lives.
Today, more than 90 percent of accidents result from human impairment, such as drunk driving or road rage, errant pedestrians, or just plain bad driving. In 2015, for example, roughly 38,000 Americans were killed and 4.4 million injured with damage costs exceeding $400 billion. In contrast, there were zero fatalities from commercial aviation in the U.S. in 2015, and a total of 136 civil aviation fatalities.
Read the full article as published in CNBC.
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Vasant Dhar is a Professor of Information Systems.
What is certain about the AV revolution is that the new form of data and analytics their onboard systems provide will significantly improve how we determine fault and resolve disputes. Equally important, the big data from AVs can provide insights into how to prevent accidents and save lives.
Today, more than 90 percent of accidents result from human impairment, such as drunk driving or road rage, errant pedestrians, or just plain bad driving. In 2015, for example, roughly 38,000 Americans were killed and 4.4 million injured with damage costs exceeding $400 billion. In contrast, there were zero fatalities from commercial aviation in the U.S. in 2015, and a total of 136 civil aviation fatalities.
Read the full article as published in CNBC.
___
Vasant Dhar is a Professor of Information Systems.