Equity, Safety, and Privacy in the Autonomous Vehicle Era

In 2015, an estimated 38,300 people were killed and 4.4 million injured in motor vehicle crashes in the US alone, with damage costs exceeding $400 billion.1 In contrast, there were no commercial aviation fatalities and 136 civil aviation deaths in the US in 2015.2 More than 90 percent of auto accidents result from human impairment such as drunk driving or road rage, errant pedestrians, or just plain bad driving. This has motivated the development of automotive safety systems that use sensors, cameras, lasers, and radar to monitor the vehicle and its surroundings and to prompt either the vehicle or driver to take corrective action to avoid an accident. These systems include forward-collision warning and automated braking, lane-departure warning, rear cross-tra c alerts, drowsiness detection, adaptive headlights, pedestrian detection, and automated parking assistance.3 Autonomous vehicles (AV) promise to further reduce collisions dramatically by removing the human element altogether. More than 30 tech companies and auto manufacturers are working on AVs and expect to start deploying them within the next three to ve years.4 Some safety experts have cautioned against allowing AVs on the road until collision-avoidance systems achieve perfection, though this wouldn’t necessarily eliminate all accidents. However, even lessthan-perfect systems could be compelling enough if they substantially reduce accidents, considering that every percentage point improvement equates to 400 lives saved and 40,000 injuries avoided annually. It could be some time before AVs are commonplace. Although the physics associated with driving is well understood and sensor technology continues to improve, machines must learn human behavior and norms, which can be complex. In addition, the human interface in AVs is still evolving as manufacturers work to enhance the software and its security. Nevertheless, federal transportation o cials appear receptive to self-driving Equity, Safety, and Privacy in the Autonomous Vehicle Era