Autonomous vehicles are new terrain when humans have always driven cars. The tech in these vehicles can guide cars, set the speed and brake without drivers having to lift a finger.
While they promise a safer future, they bring changes to personal injury cases resulting from car crashes. For starters, they will likely lower costs associated with vehicular accidents. They also bring about other questions.
Current auto-driving features
Currently, a few different companies are trying to develop fully autonomous cars. Some cars can do 99 percent of the driving. Google is among the top companies currently making developments. However, these cars still need drivers. While people foresee a future of driverless cars, currently, the technology still needs people to intervene in certain cases and pay attention.
Fewer accidents
Human error causes around 90 percent of accidents. Millions of car crashes occur in the US every year, which leaves millions of Americans injured and thousands more killed. Things like Tesla’s autopilot could reduce almost all of these accidents caused by human error. However, these cars can still crash. Generally, the tech that is out there right now crashes because of human error by other drivers or people inside the car failing to pay attention.
Fewer hospitalizations and lower costs
With fewer accidents comes fewer hospitalizations. Millions of people go to the emergency room annually because of car accidents. Automation can remove millions of patients from doctors. It can also reduce people’s personal injury bills by billions of dollars annually.
Chances are, these automated vehicles will make the roads safer. However, they will also impact personal injury cases because the current features are not fully automated and drivers are still responsible for not paying attention while behind the wheel.