Self-driving vehicles have the potential to eliminate road accidents.
In a single year, Americans drive nearly three trillion miles. 1 If you average that out at 60 mph, that adds up to almost fifty billion hours spent in the car. 2 That number grows exponentially when considering the rest of the globe. But the time spent in our cars is not without challenges. Today, a car crash occurs every five seconds in the United States. 3 Globally, road traffic injuries are the eighth leading cause of death, with about 1.24 million lives lost every year. 4 In addition to this terrible human cost, these crashes take an enormous economic toll. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has calculated the economic cost in the United States at about $277 billion a year. 5 Putting a dent in these numbers is an enormous challenge—but one that is very important to tackle. Self-driving vehicles have the potential to eliminate road accidents.