Re:Two people killed in fiery Tesla crash with no one driving
by FartyMcFarter on Sunday April 18, 2021 @09:08PM
(#26858209)
> If the human prevents 99% of autopilot could-have-been accidents, and as a result, 10 people die per X miles driven whereas through purely human driving 20 people die, then driving with autopilot is safer.
No, because correlation isn't causation.
In particular, it's plausible that autopilot only gets used in situations where it's easy to drive and accidents are less likely. This would erase any hope of assessing autopilot safety by looking at simple statistics like the ones you mention.
If the human prevents 99% of autopilot could-have-been accidents, and as a result, 10 people die per X miles driven whereas through purely human driving 20 people die, then driving with autopilot is safer.
Unless you're trying to answer "is autopilot ready for L5", this is the right metric to look at.