A beautiful thought — can you imagine your auto protecting you from criminals?
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — While much of the media attention around autonomous vehicle technology has been focused on fully self-driving cars, consumers shouldn’t expect cars that act like chauffeurs any time soon.
The vast majority of mainstream vehicles adopting autonomous driving features will be controlled by advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) or “guardian angels” that learn over time, Gil Pratt, CEO Toyota Research Institute, told reporters and analysts last week.
Speaking at the New England Motor Press Association Technology Conference at MIT, Pratt said that 30,000 motor vehicle fatalities occur in the U.S. each year. That number may seem high, but as a whole, U.S. drivers are excellent at avoiding crashes.