WASHINGTON 鈥� A new report by transit researchers at Virginia Tech found that self-driving cars on 鈥渁utonomous鈥� mode crashed fewer times than conventional cars.
, which was released Friday, was prepared by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. According to the study, the crash rate for self-driving cars was 3.2 crashes per million miles. Comparatively, regular cars had聽a聽rate of 4.2 crashes per million miles.
Researchers at Virginia Tech were trying to address the question of whether or not self-driving cars were more prone to crashes.聽The study reviewed聽national crash data and driving studies that closely monitored the on-road experiences of 3,300 vehicles that covered more than 34 million vehicle miles. The results were then compared with聽data from Google鈥檚 self-driving car program.
It seems America鈥檚 roads really could be headed toward a driverless car future. Major carmakers entering the robo car arena 鈥�. Tesla already has a model聽that can operate聽in self-driving mode.
Google鈥檚 self-drivers聽have logged more than one million miles in 鈥渁utonomous鈥� mode since 2009. As of Dec. 31, the Google had 23 self-driving Lexus SUVs and 30 鈥減rototypes鈥� roaming the streets of Mountain View California and Austin, Texas, according to the company’s safety聽records.
But the technology isn鈥檛 without its glitches. In November, in Silicon Valley for driving too slowly, backing up traffic as it crept at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone.
California has rolled out safety regulations .
