Self Driving Cars Have A Higher Accident Rate

[Kelvin Mace]

51. You have been a very careful rider

but you have also been very lucky. Bad drivers are everywhere. If we were to categorize accidents into:

1) Those caused by drivers failing to anticipate a dangerous driver.

2) Those caused by drivers failing to maintain proper lookout, speeding, driving impaired/distracted.

I think we would find the second category accounting for 95%+ of the accidents.

Google cars are quite distinctive in traffic. I think you would ZERO chance of having an accident with one since the cars actions are entirely predictable. The car won't speed, won't run a red light, won't roll through a stop sign, will not backup without checking, will turn in the direction it signals, won't follow too closely etc. Human driven cars simply are not predictable, which makes your job WAY harder.

Is an autonomous car safer than a highly trained, cautious and law-abiding driver who allows no impairment or distractions? Probably not, but that description applies to a very low single digit percentage of drivers on the road.