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Autonomous Vehicles

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Article

Why Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives

Nov 7, 2017

Some people think autonomous vehicles must be flawless before humans take their hands off the wheel. But putting AVs on the road before they're perfect improves the technology more quickly—and could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time.
Report

How AV Safety Can Be Defined, Tested, and Measured

Oct 11, 2018

The race to introduce automated vehicles to consumers and communities is based on the promise that they will be safer than conventional vehicles. A new framework for measuring AV safety provides the public, automotive industry, and policymakers with clearer ways to discuss AV technology issues.

Explore Autonomous Vehicles

Blog

State of the Union: Insights from RAND

To shed light on a wide range of topics that figured in President Trump's second State of the Union address, we've rounded up insights from some of RAND's objective and nonpartisan research, analysis, and expertise.

Feb 6, 2019
Commentary

How to Make Roads Safer for Autonomous Vehicles

No matter how much developers test autonomous vehicles, the world will still present unforeseen circumstances for vehicles to navigate. Roadways and vehicle design could be modified to better accommodate both human error and the shortcomings of autonomous vehicle systems.

Feb 6, 2019
Report

Report

Advancing Autonomous Systems: An Analysis of Current and Future Technology for Unmanned Maritime Vehicles

In this report, RAND researchers explore current and potential military applications of autonomous systems, focusing especially on unmanned undersea vehicles and unmanned surface vehicles.

Jan 4, 2019
Commentary

The New AV Challenge: Creating a Universal Safety Framework

Autonomous vehicle developers are pursuing different safety strategies and technologies, making different claims, in different ways, about their systems. A universal framework could provide a more consistent and transparent view of progress in AV safety within and across the industry, better informing the public and policymakers.

Nov 2, 2018
Commentary

How AVs Could Provide Independence for Older Drivers

Giving up driving has been linked to depression and isolation in older adults, as well as early entry into nursing home facilities. Autonomous vehicles could help improve the well-being of older adults by allowing them to maintain independence while still giving up their car keys.

Sep 21, 2018
Commentary

What If Autonomous Vehicles Actually Make Us More Dependent on Cars?

Cities across Europe are taking steps to become increasingly car free. Mayors, supported by their officials and planners, should start leading a debate now about how self-driving vehicles can best serve the needs of residents and visitors, and help deliver wider goals for their cities.

Jun 19, 2018
Report

Rethinking Insurance and Liability in the Transformative Age of Autonomous Vehicles

What are the challenges and opportunities for the automobile insurance industry as autonomous vehicle technology becomes widely deployed? This workshop brought together industry stakeholders, regulators, and consumer representatives to focus on the implications of AV technology for insurance and liability regimes.

Jun 8, 2018
Report

Could U.S. Road Deaths Reach Zero by 2050?

Motor vehicle crashes kill more than 100 Americans every day and are the leading cause of death for people age 15 to 24. A strategy that includes changes in policy, technology, and social norms could substantially improve road safety and lead to zero roadway deaths by 2050.

Apr 19, 2018
Report

Report

The Road to Zero: Executive Summary: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050

Imagine that, in 2050, not a single person in the United States dies in a traffic crash. This executive summary to The Road to Zero: A Vision for Achieving Zero Roadway Deaths by 2050 describes how that might be possible.

Apr 19, 2018
Journal Article

Journal Article

A Common EU Approach to Liability Rules and Insurance for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles: European Added Value Assessment Accompanying the European Parliament's Legislative Own-Initiative Report

The findings of this European added value assessment (EAVA) suggest that it is necessary to revise the current legislative EU framework for liability rules and insurance for connected and autonomous vehicles.

Mar 28, 2018
Multimedia

Safety in a World of Driverless Cars

In this Call with the Experts, senior information scientist Nidhi Kalra discusses a RAND study that shows putting driverless cars on the road before they're nearly perfect could save lives, and also describes new approaches for safety standards.

Feb 15, 2018
Commentary

Ensuring Cybersecurity Is Vital for a Driverless Future

High-profile accidents involving autonomous vehicles (AVs) have led to recent discussions about the physical safety of people. However, it could be argued that consumers and manufacturers should be equally, if not more, concerned about the potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities in AVs.

Feb 12, 2018
Commentary

Autonomous Vehicles: Terrorist Threat or Security Opportunity?

Terrorist groups that track developments in technology could be considering using self-driving cars in place of suicide bombers or for ramming attacks. But autonomous vehicle capabilities offer a range of potential benefits to law enforcement and security operations, too.

Jan 3, 2018
Commentary

Driverless Cars: The Race Is On for Policy to Catch Up

Driverless cars could be tested on Britain’s roads by 2021. While this is likely to be great news to many, the race is now on for policymaking to catch up. Why? Because driverless cars could substantially change more than just the way people travel.

Nov 27, 2017
Tool

Enemy of Good: Autonomous Vehicle Safety Scenario Explorer

How safe should highly automated vehicles (HAVs) be before they are allowed on the roads for consumer use? This tool lets users develop their own future scenarios and estimates the resulting fatalities against a future without AVs.

Nov 7, 2017
Report

Deploying Autonomous Vehicles Before They're Perfect Will Save More Lives

Autonomous vehicles should only have to be moderately better than human drivers before being widely used in the United States. This approach could save thousands of lives annually even before the technology is perfected.

Nov 7, 2017
Report

RAND Model of Automated Vehicle Safety (MAVS): Model Documentation

This report describes a simple model of how factors shaping the diffusion and performance of highly automated vehicles may interact and result in different safety outcomes over time.

Nov 7, 2017
Multimedia

How Safe Should Autonomous Vehicles Be Before They're Introduced to Market?

RAND researchers Nidhi Kalra and David G. Groves developed a model to compare 500 different scenarios of autonomous vehicle introduction, adoption, and improvement. The research shows that putting autonomous vehicles on the road sooner, allowing them to improve quicker, could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time.

Nov 7, 2017
News Release

News Release

Introducing Autonomous Vehicles Sooner Could Save Hundreds of Thousands of Lives Over Time

Autonomous vehicles should only have to be moderately better than human drivers before being widely used in the United States, an approach that could save thousands of lives annually even before the technology is perfected.

Nov 7, 2017

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RAND Topic:
Autonomous Vehicles