Driverless cars could help tame Indian traffic someday

The safety promise of autonomous vehicles could kick in once they dominate road behaviour

- RAHUL MATTHAN

Each year, over a million people die in automobile accidents around the world. While this might seem like a high number in absolute terms, it has been trending downwards on a per capita basis from its peak in the mid-20th century. For the most part, this is because of the tremendous effort that manufacturers have put into making sure that their vehicles are safe. Since the vast majority of automobile accidents are on account of human error, today our cars come with airbags, crash harnesses, crumple zones and reinforced structures to give passengers the best chance of escaping unscathed. So much so that for more than half a century, our design efforts have been focused on protecting us from ourselves, rather than building more efficient transportation.

All this has added to the weight of the car, forcing manufacturers to make their engines even more powerful, which has, in turn, further increased the vehicle's weight. What all this means is that, year after year, our streets are being filled with even more massive metal machines that are far heavier and more powerful than they need to be.

There is an economic cost to all this. Since they are designed to meet crash standards, our cars today are far less aerodynamic than they could have been, and, as a result, consume far more fuel than they need to. Given the additional weight of their safety features and much larger engines, their tires suffer far more wear-and-tear, which has increased maintenance costs all around.