As developers respond to the first fatal accident involving an autonomous vehicle, which occurred in March 2018, global law firm Clyde & Co has cautioned that increasing the sensitivity of driverless vehicles could lead to further risks.
Clyde & Co’s comments responded to media reports that analysed the causes of March’s accident, which involved an Uber autonomous vehicle and a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona.
Nigel Brook, a partner at Clyde & Co, said: “An autonomous vehicle has to interpret its changing surroundings so as to navigate roads while avoiding collisions. But can the AV’s systems rapidly distinguish between a ‘false positive’ such as plastic bags blown by the wind from a real threat?
“If the systems are too ‘neurotic’, the ride will be jerky and uncomfortable; too relaxed, and the car could fail to react to real danger. This is one of the fundamental challenges faced by all AV developers, not just Uber.”
Training the algorithms of autonomous vehicles currently requires millions of miles of driving, while various companies are competing to be the first to market.
Although the incident in March is considered to be the first time an autonomous vehicle has been involved in a fatal accident, there have been crashes and non-fatal accidents involving the technology before.
Brook suggested that this latest incident should be treated as an opportunity for regulators and local authorities to evaluate their safety procedures and the full implications of the technology.
Commenting on the challenge of interpreting data, Brook added: “There are lots of things humans find very easy and machines find very hard – such as picking one type of object out of a bucket containing multiple objects.
“Through years of experience, our brains develop an impressive ability to process images and work out what is happening without any conscious thought. Machines struggle in this regard – and this is where the real challenge lies.”
Clyde & Co has already published a series of white papers on the development and implications of autonomous vehicles for re/insurers, and its Manchester-based Casualty team works for many of the UK’s leading insurers in managing vehicles accident claims.
