When It Comes to AV Safety, Experience Counts

Last week, the autonomous-driving industry suffered a tragic setback when an Uber prototype struck and killed Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona. The incident is heartbreaking due to the loss of human life, first and foremost, but also unfortunate due to the irreparable harm it has and will have caused to the public’s confidence in the safety (and potential safety) of autonomous vehicles. The question is, was the incident avoidable?

As the collision clearly showed, self-driving technology still has some ways to go before it can be widely implemented. However, the incident might have been avoided if the vehicle in question had been equipped with technology that not only already exists, but has been proven through billions of miles already driven.

When the police footage of the incident was run through Mobileye software, the pedestrian was detected approximately one second before impact. This is Mobileye software which tens of millions of vehicles are already driving on today.

When it comes to AV safety, in short, experience counts. Read the full text by Mobileye’s CEO Prof. Amnon Shashua in the Intel Newsroom to find out more.