Is This the Answer to Safety Concerns With Self-Driving Cars?
Serena Aburahma
· 4 min read
Self-driving cars
have gone from a technology of the future to a reality. Major names like Tesla and Google have produced fully autonomous vehicles, and services like self-driving rideshare vehicles are now possible. Even though there is a lot to be optimistic about with self-driving cars, there are still questions about safety.
Aurora, a self-driving car company, is hoping to change minds and demonstrate the safety of the technology.
According to
Reuters
, Aurora has released a technology to measure the safety of autonomous vehicles. They hope that this will both lead to safer vehicles and show the public how safe self-driving cars can be.
How will this make self-driving cars safer?
According to
Aurora
, the tool is called the Aurora Safety Case Framework, and it is designed to track and gauge the capabilities of self-driving cars. The keys to the Safety Case Framework are five principles to measure self-driving vehicles on: proficient, fail-safe, continuously improving, resilient and trustworthy.
By measuring these factors, Aurora will be able to see how well self-driving cars and trucks perform in standard driving conditions.
Factors like "resilient" can show how well the technology responds when things go poorly. For example, it is important to measure how a self-driving car acts when less-than-safe drivers are driving around it.
Aurora's reason for this tool can be summarized in one word: transparency.
Part of the lack of trust for self-driving cars comes from a lack of understanding, and Aurora wants to eliminate this possibility. Instead, they want the public to be able to see every part of the development process of their self-driving cars.
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Transparency could help improve trust in self-driving cars
MORE: Malcolm Gladwell Isn't Afraid of an Autonomous Vehicle Future
Aurora's belief that trust is low in self-driving cars is not unfounded. The technology behind self-driving cars is impressive, but it can also seem intimidating. Getting people to trust autonomous vehicles may be difficult.
This trust may be even harder to gain because of recent incidents with self-driving cars.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced it is investigating Tesla for their self-driving vehicles. Tesla's self-driving car program called Autopilot has been involved in recent highly-publicized accidents.
Accidents like this reaffirm the fears that some have about the safety of self-driving cars. Despite this, Aurora claims that the investigation into Tesla was not the reason for releasing the Safety Case Framework.
Business is promising for Aurora
MORE: Tesla Will Release the Cybertruck With Full Self-Driving Computer 2
Right now, Aurora may not be the most recognizable name in self-driving cars, but their Safety Case Framework may change this.
The company has only been around for five years, and they already have an estimated value of about $13 billion. Aurora is expected to go public by the end of the year.
The list of companies that have invested in Aurora is filled with familiar names in cars and technology. Notable investors include Amazon, BMW, Hyundai, and T. Rowe Price. Having so many industry leaders interested in the company shows the potential in their technology.
Aurora's Safety Case Framework could be a big step to solving a lot of the safety questions that surround self-driving cars.
What the future of self-driving cars means for car insurance remains up in the air. For now, though, insurance is still a necessity, and another technology of the future can help you find cheap car insurance.
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