Study of Automated Vehicle Technology Using Nationwide Databases Found Blind Spot Monitoring Reduced Collision Claim Frequency by 2.13 Percent.
A Nationwide Study in the U.S. Estimated the Potential Safety Benefits of Fleet-Wide Deployment of Various Crash Avoidance Technologies.
Nationwide, United States
Estimating the Effects of Vehicle Automation and Vehicle Weight and Size on Crash Frequency and Severity: Phase 1
Summary Information
Automated vehicle technologies providing crash avoidance features have the potential to reduce both the frequency and severity of crashes by assisting in maintaining control or issuing alerts in dangerous situations. This study developed a model to estimate the crash avoidance associated with vehicle automation systems, and estimated the potential costs and benefits of fleet-wide deployment of crash avoidance technologies in the U.S., including Forward Collision Warning (FCW), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), and Blind Spot Monitoring (BSM), considering the national fleet of about 254 million light-duty vehicles in 2019. The changes in collision claim frequencies and collision claim severity from insurance data published by the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) for major automakers between 2017 and 2019 was used as an indicator of crash avoidance.
METHODOLOGY
The study made two major assumptions to estimate the costs and benefits of fleet-wide deployment: (i) A change (positive or negative) in collision claim frequency was the equivalent change in crash frequency for single and multiple-vehicle crashes, (ii) A change in collision claim severity was the equivalent change in crash cost, whether positive or negative, for crashes that were not prevented. To estimate the changes in collision frequency and severity, the study estimated a weighted average based on the total vehicle exposure. The total costs of equipping all light-duty vehicles with crash avoidance systems included the purchasing costs of each technology annualized over the average lifespan of a vehicle to enable the assessment of yearly fleet-wide costs and benefits. Total annual societal benefits (SB) included the sum of the cost savings from changes in crash frequency. For the cost benefit analysis, the study considered two scenarios: One scenario was fleet-wide deployment of warning features only (i.e., FCW, LDW, and BSM), another scenario was fleet-wide deployment of all warning features plus Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB). All cost values were using 2019 value.
FINDINGS
- The results showed that BSM reduced collision claim frequency by 2.13 percent.
- LDW would reduce collision frequency by 1.01 percent.
- FCW had the lowest reduction in crash frequency, by 0.88 percent only.
- It should be noted that these safety benefits came at an increased collision claim severity cost for each of the BSM, LDW, and FCW technologies by $54, $95 and $142, respectively.
- Collectively, the results showed that, the combination of these warning technologies would lower collision claim frequency by 4.03 percent but increase average crash costs by $292.
- When AEB was coupled with FCW, collision claim frequency reduction improved to 5.68 percent, although associated with a higher collision severity cost of $172.
- Considering BSM, LDW, FCW, and AEB together, the collision frequency reduction of 8.82 percent, associated with $321 increase claim severity was observed.
