The challenge and promise of Self Driving Cars

There is a lot of excitement in the space of autonomous vehicles. As per some studies, 90%+ of the accidents caused today, happen because of human errors. In view of this, obviously, it makes a lot of sense to automate that task. However, we should also realize that humans are able to handle several edge case / tricky scenario(s) in a fairly competent manner, and that unless the Autonomous Vehicle(s) ( AVs ) are subjected to a lot of testing, using them might increase accident(s) in the short term.

Here is a snippet from an article by Rand corp, establishing the scope of the effort required to prove the safety of AVs from a statistical stand point.

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With a fleet of 100 autonomous vehicles being test-driven 24 hours a day, 365 days a year at an average speed of 25 miles per hour, this ( This is approximately 8.8 billion miles ) would take about 400 years. 

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Hopefully, we are able to chip away successfully at the 400 year, with an gradual and calculated increase in the number of AVs and also with the use of high quality simulations.