How many self-driving car crashes is too many?

Richard Read

So, we have bad news, good news, bad news, and worse news.

Bad news: late last week, another Tesla Model S crashed while Autopilot was (allegedly) engaged.

Good news: the driver wasn’t seriously hurt, and didn’t need to contact a car accident attorney, even though the car was traveling 60 mph when it rear-ended a fire truck.

Bad news: the internet won’t stop shouting about the looming autonomous car apocalypse.

Worse news: Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk isn’t helping matters by making iffy claims about Autopilot safety. Mashable reports:

This week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk doubled (tripled? quadrupled?) down on the safety of Tesla’s Autopilot feature – a semi-automated driver assistance mode Tesla introduced to its cars in 2014 and now comes with every vehicle. The stat Musk and the company repeated (and will continue to repeat) about Autopilot reducing crash rates by 40 percent came under some scrutiny earlier this month. Wired found that the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration-backed stat is likely based on flawed, unreliable data.

I mean, yes, we get it: Autopilot, like all driver-assist features, can make cars safer and reduce roadway collisions. And yes, most of us understand that Autopilot isn’t a fully-autonomous system and that it requires drivers to remain alert with their hands on the wheel. So if the driver truly was on her phone, not paying attention to traffic…well, we’re not lawyers, but we’ve watched enough Judge Judy to know how that would go down in court. The increase in this sort of incident occurring will certainly be interesting for the insurance sector but knowing that such things can happen should be enough to realize why you need a comprehensive truck insurance policy – truckers are in a unique position wherein their vehicle is their livelihood and, if they don’t have it covered, repairs resulting from such incidents may be difficult for them to justify given the associated financial setback.


Unfortunately, this is still a danger when it comes to self-driving cars, as well as the use of Autopilot. Many people are still under the assumption that you don’t have to pay attention to the road whilst riding in these vehicles, but this is simply untrue. Keeping your eyes on what is in front of you is still important, as before you know it, you could be involved in a car accident of your own. As a result of this, the people who had been severely injured in the crash would be able to contact someone similar to this Fairview Heights injury attorney to help them get the compensation they deserve, especially if they are required to pay for any medical or future rehabilitation bills. The person who wasn’t at fault should be able to get compensation for the accident, as there are so many costs that come with a collision. To see some of the types of damages in a car accident case, it might be worth contacting your local car accident lawyer for help and support. Hopefully, the victim will be able to gain generous compensation to help them cover some of these costs. To prevent a car accident, it’s so important to stay alert whilst in any type of vehicle will be paramount to your safety and that of those around you.


The question really is: how much of an appetite do Americans have for accidents in self-driving cars? Or, put more optimistically: how long until we stop freaking the hell out about every crash and fender-bender in autonomous vehicles and accept the fact that they can run circles around our puny human driving skills?