15.4 C
Vancouver
Thursday, June 12, 2025

Study Finds Self-Driving Cars Often Fail To Stop For Obstacles

 

Self-driving cars have been found to not stop for certain obstacles or find themselves in other dangerous situations unless a driver takes immediate manual control, according to a new study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

During on-road and track tests for BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Tesla and Volvo, researchers discovered that self-driving cars repeatedly either failed to recognize obstacles or failed to stop when presented with one.

โ€œThe early results underscore the fact that todayโ€™s systems arenโ€™t robust substitutes for human drivers,โ€ the insurance trade group said in its report.

In particular, researchers found that the BMW, Volvo and Mercedes self-driving cars did not brake when a vehicle stopped ahead of them in certain circumstances.

The research also found that driversโ€™ expectations that they are safe increases the tendency for the self-driving cars to crash.

IIHS chief researcher David Zuby said that this presents a real problem for designers.

โ€œIf they limit functionality to keep drivers engaged, they risk a backlash that the systems are too rudimentary. If the systems seem too capable, then drivers may not give them the attention required to use them safely,โ€ he said.

The researchers also warned about the viability of testing self-driving vehicles on real roads, pointing to the incident last March when a self-driving Uber prototype hit and killed a pedestrian.