Safe travels

Fear of new mobility technologies is at least as old as the car itself. The 1865 Locomotive Act in the United Kingdom required automobiles to travel at a maximum of 4 mph, and a man carrying a red flag to walk in front of vehicles hauling multiple wagons. In October 2023, a robotaxi operated by General Motors’ Cruise service in San Francisco was involved in a non-fatal accident caused by the human driver of another vehicle. This nonetheless precipitated the suspension of the company’s operations across the United States, which have only just restarted in limited test mode. Yet, 1.2 million people are still killed annually on the world’s roads, by human drivers in one way or another. This figure has been largely stable since 2000, whilst people move more, suggesting a modest improvement in safety per kilometre travelled. Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) are one way to address this issue.

Source: World Health Organization