Attorney Amy Witherite: Safety Claims for Autonomous Trucks Do Not Add Up
Attorney and traffic safety expert Amy Witherite says that the numbers being used to justify testing of driverless trucks on Texas highways do not add up when it comes to proving these vehicles are safe to put on public highways.
"Some of the statistics used to justify putting 80,000 pound 18-wheelers on Texas highways don't add up when you consider the number of miles actually driven each year," said Amy Witherite, founder of the Witherite Law Firm. "They are literally a drop in the bucket and nowhere near the number of miles needed to show these vehicles do not pose a significant safety hazard to all those who will share the road."
- According to the American Trucking Association, tractor-trailers drive almost 200 billion miles each year.
- According to Aurora Innovations (NASDAQ:AUR), Aurora Driver completed over 1,200 miles without a driver and 10,000 customer loads across three million autonomous miles with a monitoring driver in the cab.
- To achieve a high level of confidence in the safety of autonomous vehicles, the Rand Corporation estimates that "autonomous vehicles would have to be driven hundreds of millions of miles and sometimes hundreds of billions of miles to demonstrate their reliability in terms of fatalities and injuries."
The Aurora experiment with no driver in the cab in Texas ended less than three weeks after it began at the request of PACCAR (NASDAQ:PCAR), whose trucks have been modified by Aurora for autonomous operations.
"It is important to note that companies whose survival depends on autonomous automation have been more aggressive in launching the technologies than firms such as PACCAR, whose principal business is building trucks," said Witherite.
According to Witherite, "Many experts believe that more testing in simulators as well as independent government standards would go a long way to proving these vehicles can safely operate in the challenging driving conditions on Texas highways."
"It is important to note that those whose future is not tied directly to driverless vehicles are being much more cautious about deploying this technology," said Witherite. "Regulators and politicians should also take note and make sure there are standards and accountability throughout the industry to protect the public."
The Witherite Law Group specializes in vehicle accident cases and offers crucial support for individuals involved in accidents with driverless vehicles. For more information visit their website. www.witheritelaw.com.
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