A new survey has taken a look at the safety of self-directed vehicles ( AVs ) , finding that while overall , they are better than humans in several routine areas of driving , they are presently not as good as human drivers in modest - luminousness place or turning .

Before we can simply step into our car and allow them to labour us to our destination , we demand to know that they are good . The promise is that one twenty-four hour period they could go past human driving capabilities . After all , cars do not get tired , peevish at other driver , or have lapses in concentration while think about something else .

Around the world , run of the technology have taken place , and we have a fairly big pool of data from semi - self-governing systems in vehicles used in genuine - populace traffic situations . In the new study , researchers from the University of Central Florida analyse information from 2,100 Advanced Driving Systems and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems , as well as fortuity datum from 35,113 human - driven vehicles ( HDVs ) , in an attempt to compare the safety of AVs and HDVs in various billet .

The team found that more often than not , AVsare safer than human driver , albeit with several profound caveats .

" The analysis paint a picture that accidents of vehicles equipped with Advanced Driving Systems generally have a lower chance of go on than Human - Driven Vehicles in most of the like fortuity scenario , " the team wrote in their composition .

During mundane traffic operation , such as keep in lane and adjusting to match the flow of dealings , AVs performed better than HDVs , and were involved in fewer fortuity during these tasks . Rear - remnant accidents were 0.5 less likely in Ab , while sideswipe chance event were 0.2 percentage less likely .

But humankind still haveartificial intelligencebeat in other traffic situations .

" free-base on the example estimation results , it can be conclude that ADS [ automatic driving systems ] in general are good than HDVs in most accident scenarios for their object signal detection and avoidance , preciseness ascendency , and better decision - making , " the squad explained .

" However , the odds ratio of an ADS stroke befall under dawn / twilight or rick conditions is 5.250 and 1.988 time higher , severally , than the probability of an HDV stroke occurring under the same conditions . The possible reasons might be a want of situational awareness in complex driving scenario and limited driving experience of AV . "

Identifying these key problem area could aid Ab research worker improvevehicle performance . An area to focalise on in good order now would be identifying hazards in different light .

" At dawn and dusk , for instance , the sun ’s shadows and reflections may confuse sensor , wee-wee it hard for them to distinguish between objects and identify potential hazards , " the team wrote . " what is more , the fluctuating light conditions can touch the truth of objective detection and recognition algorithms used by AVs , which can result in false positives or negative . "

While the field may be disappointing for ego - drive fans waiting for the crossover full stop where Ab become better than human drivers , any melioration to performance can be post to all AVs at the same time . Should researchers find a way to ameliorate turn , software updates can apply it to vehicle of that eccentric , in a way that we ca n’t do with homo .

Hopefully one twenty-four hours we will be capable to skip in AVs without worrying about turn and modification to light , or other human being on the route getting deflect .

The study is published inNature Communications .