Experts addressed these topics at a May 8, Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA)/State Farm® meeting. They represented government, the auto and tech industries, law enforcement, safety, and insurance.

The leaders agreed to use a common language when talking about AV features. Also, focus on driver responsibilities and attitudes is key to preparing motorists to safely share roads with AVs. Moving forward the group will:

• Develop consistent public safety messages about all forms of vehicle automation.

• Maintain focus on current traffic safety challenges. These include impaired driving, speeding, failure to buckle up, distracted driving and sharing the road with pedestrians.

• Create uniform policies and training for responding to and investigating AV crashes. This will be key for police, first responders and court officials.

“While AVs will change our lives in many ways, they raise important highway safety issues,” said Ryan Gammelgard, Counsel at State Farm. “This report is a key piece to helping make sure we all work together to ensure the technology works as advertised.”

Because human error is the cause of the large majority of car crashes, autonomous vehicles (AVs) have the potential to greatly improve safety. In the near future, however, there will continue to be crashes involving AVs as they share the road with vehicles driven by humans.

A new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, Preparing for Automated Vehicles: Traffic Safety Issues for States, finds that most AVs for the foreseeable future will share driving responsibility with humans. Drivers will still exert significant control and will be able to change their vehicle’s level of automation, just as drivers today can activate or deactivate cruise control.

Automated vehicles will bring new traffic safety issues to the states. This report suggests how law enforcement and state highway offices should prepare for them.

“Many people are unconvinced of the safety benefits of AVs and unwilling to share the road or to ride in them,” said Ryan Gammelgard, Counsel at State Farm®. “However, research suggests that public enthusiasm and support will grow as people learn more about AVs and are able to experience them first-hand, and if there is objective proof that the technology operates better than humans.”

The report was authored by Dr. Jim Hedlund, a former senior official with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and funded by State Farm.

The full report is available here.