Self-Driving Coalition Statement on Autonomous Vehicles' Significant Potential To Save Lives

The following statement is from Self-Driving Coalition general counsel Ariel Wolf:

“Last year, an estimated 36,120 people died in motor vehicle crashes on American roads across the country with millions more injured. The Self-Driving Coalition’s members are dedicated to fully self-driving technology as a transformative opportunity to significantly reduce those numbers. In fact, the IIHS study finds that self-driving vehicles could prevent 72% of crashes.

“Self-driving vehicle technology will help reduce the incidents of drunk driving (29% of all 2018 fatalities) and distracted driving (14% of all 2018 fatalities), which are important steps that should not be overlooked in making roads safer for drivers, passengers, cyclists and pedestrians. Beyond those improvements, self-driving vehicles hold the potential to avoid problems that arise from fatigue, human error, speeding, or other common causes of fatalities.  

“It also holds the promise of providing mobility access to those who are currently limited due to physical challenges. Furthermore self-driving technology has the potential to usher in a new era in contactless movement and delivery, which in the context of the current pandemic, offers an opportunity to mitigate exposure.

“The self-driving industry is investing billions of dollars in research, human ingenuity, hardware and software innovation, artificial intelligence, machine learning and more to develop and test vehicles and technology that can help us reach the vision of a fully self-driving future.”