Self-Driving Cars Accident Statistics

Updated · Mar 14, 2025


TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Introduction
- Editor’s Choice
- Self-Driving Car Accidents Statistics
- Self-Driving Cars vs Human-Driven Cars Statistics
- Concerns About Autonomous Cars
- Self- Driving Cars Safety Statistics
- California and United States Self-driving Car Accidents Statistics
- Autonomous Vehicle Crash Rate Comparison
- Impact of COVID-19 on Autonomous Vehicles
- Investments in Self Driving Vehicles
- Autonomous Cars Market Adoption Statistics
- Recent Self-Driving Car Safety Measures
- Conclusion
Introduction
Self-Driving Cars Accident Statistics: There are two types of self-driving cars: autonomous and semi-autonomous. Autonomous vehicles can operate without human input, while semi-autonomous vehicles require human intervention. The autonomous vehicles market has seen unprecedented technological advancements, with global regulators working on policies for this rapidly growing industry. According to theory, autonomous cars should have fewer accidents than human-driven vehicles since computers do not get distracted. Self-driving vehicles have the potential to make travel more efficient and improve overall road safety. However, technological innovation also brings new concerns. In this report, we will explore self-driving car accident statistics.
Editor’s Choice
- In 2030, autonomous vehicle technology could help save 234 billion dollars in the US to cut down on accidents.
- The efficiency of the fuel used by autonomous vehicles is predicted to rise by 10% to 20%
Around 90% reduction in the emissions of traffic via vehicle automation may lead to. - In 2040, around 70% of all new automobiles will be equipped with some sort of automation.
- In 2045, close to 60% of automobiles within the United States will be automatic.
- Autonomous taxis can reduce the requirement for parking by 68%.
- 62% of people are willing to pay more to get a self-driving vehicle.
- 39 million autonomous vehicles will be operating around the world by 2030.
- 52% of people living in the United Kingdom say they do not believe in self-driving vehicles.
- About 25% of fatal car accidents result from the speed at which cars travel, and this could be reduced with self-driving cars.
- Around 8.5 million car accidents could be avoided by using self-driving technology each year.
- Auto automation could lead to an 80% reduction in traffic-related problems.
- In 2030, the autonomous automobile market will reach USD 536.6 billion.
Self-Driving Car Accidents Statistics
- By 2050, self-driving cars will save almost 21,700 lives and prevent about 4.22 million accidents yearly.
- By 2030, the Chinese Autonomous Vehicles Market is estimated to reach US$98.89 billion.
- Autonomous vehicle testing has decreased the number of accidents across the United States from 9.1 per million miles to 4.6 per million miles.
- By 2030, the autonomous market in North America is projected to reach USD 24.2 billion.
- Self-driving cars can reduce car insurance costs by almost 60%.
- By 2040, autonomous cars are estimated to account for 75% of all vehicles on the road.
- The self-driving cars get almost 10-20 software updates annually to improve their safety.
- By 2060, the autonomous car market in Asia-Pacific is expected to reach USD 36.6 billion.
- The adoption of self-driving cars can reduce private car ownership in the US by 45%.
- The worldwide self-driving car market is estimated to reach 41.9 trillion by 2025.
- The self-driving cars are expected to save the US economy in costs related to road accidents by USD 65 billion.
- By 2030, the autonomous car market in Europe is estimated to reach $28.7 billion.
- Self-driving vehicles can decrease greenhouse gas emissions by 60%.
- One in four cars will be automated by 2030.
- Autonomous vehicles have a 9.1 per million miles driven accidental rate.
- By 2025, about 8 million autonomous or semi-autonomous cars will be in maximum number on the road.
- Self-driving vehicles have decreased the rate of care-related deaths up to 90%
- Self-driving car accidents have been recorded at a low rate compared to conventional cars, at 4.7 accidents per million miles.
- Autonomous vehicles experience an average of 1.8 safety-related detachments for every million miles driven.
- Self-driving cars can reduce fuel consumption by 44% for trucks and 18% for vehicles.
- In 2020, self-driving cars had a disconnection rate of 18,000 miles per disconnection.
- 94% of car accidents are due to human error, which can be notably reduced by self-driving cars.
- 16.60% of self-driver car accidents occurred while testing self-driving technology at low speeds.
- Autonomous cars can decrease the cost of car insurance by 90%.
- Tsukuba Mechanical Japan produced the first self-driven passenger vehicle in 1977.
- The primary benefit of self-driving cars is increased safety, as they can reduce stress and save time.
- The average commute time is 27 minutes, so people can use time productively.
- From 2021 to 2028, the worldwide self-driving vehicle market is predicted to increase at 39.47% CAGR.
- In 2025, the self-driving truck market is predicted to reach USD 2.2 billion.
Self-Driving Cars vs Human-Driven Cars Statistics
- Since the beginning of 2023, Waymo has completed 8 million miles with self-driving vehicles, including more than 4 million driverless miles in San Francisco.
- The study shows that human drivers have a crash rate of around 50.5 crashes per million miles, whereas self-driving cars have 23 crashes per million miles.
- Two companies in California reported 102 crashes involving driverless vehicles over roughly 6 million miles of driving. This means one crash for every 60,000 miles, exceeding five years of driving by human motorists.
- As per the National Highway Traffic Safety Board, almost 6 million car crashes are reported to the police annually in the US.
(Source: warpnews.org)
- Americans drive almost 3 trillion miles yearly, so nearly a “major” crash occurs on the road once every 50,000 miles.
- As per the survey, Cruise has claimed that almost its 1st million miles, its vehicles crashed 56% less per mile than the traditional human driver.
- Cruise has projected that their driverless cars were 73% not likely to be in a crash with a severe risk of injury and 93% less likely to be the “primary contributor” to the crash.
- Human drivers contribute to 69% of crashes, and autonomous cars contribute to 10% of crashes.
- As per the survey, human drivers have caused 0.24 injuries per million miles and 0.01 fatalities per million miles, whereas self-driving cars caused 0.06 injuries per million miles and 0 deaths per million miles.
Concerns About Autonomous Cars
- 62% of customers have lost trust in Tesla because of the recent safety and technological outbreaks.
- Nearly 30% of Americans are excited about the autonomous car innovation in the future.
- About 20% of citizens enhanced the mobility for the elderly and disabled people.
- Roughly 29% of the customers would pay a premium for an autonomous car.
- About 61% of the residents in the United States trust an autonomous vehicle with their children or loved ones.
- Over 50% of the customers have not been happy owning or using an autonomous vehicle in the last five years.
(Reference: forbes.com)
- About 81% of Americans have never used or driven a self-driven vehicle.
- 10% of the people hope for a reduction in traffic congestion.
- 93% of Americans have issues with some aspects of autonomous cars related to safety and technology malfunctioning on the top of the list.
- Self-driving cars involve double the number of accidents every mile driven than human-driven vehicles.
- As per the NHTSA study done in 2022, more than 69.64% of all the advanced-driven assistance system crashes are from Tesla. Almost 273 advanced driven assistance systems crashed by Tesla in 2022.
- Nearly 13% of the people believe that the vehicles will increase the quality of transportation logistics.
- In America, only 12% of the customers fully trust self-driving car technology, whereas 46% of Americans have zero trust in autonomous car technology.
- By 2030, as estimated by McKinsey & Co., only 12% of the new passenger vehicles will be sold with an advanced auto-drive feature already installed.
(Reference: forbes.com)
- As per McKinsey, by 2035, the demand for new passenger vehicles will increase rapidly at 37%, still making up a small share of all passenger vehicles sold.
- In a survey, about 30% indicated that they did not see any potential in the applications for autonomous cars.
- An American survey found that only 1% of people believe that there are other potential exciting future changes in store.
- The survey shows that an autonomous vehicle is more likely to remain a product with 51% of the consumers, which indicates they are doubtful.
- As per McKinsey, the complex auto-drive system’s additional software and hardware licensing costs are $5000.
Self- Driving Cars Safety Statistics
- By 2030, nearly 50% of commercial motor vehicle sales will include semi-autonomous technology.
- Roughly, in the US, human drivers have one crash every 484,000 miles, whereas Waymo had one crash every 1.26 million miles.
- By 2050, autonomous vehicles can lead to $447 billion and a reduction in spending on emergency services.
- In 2020, the Waymo self-driving car had a yearly average of just 0.036 disconnections every 1,000 miles driven.
- Between 2019 and 2020, the self-driving vehicle testing in California was 20% less in disconnection.
- 50% of the customers believe autonomous vehicles increase road safety.
- In the US, autonomous cars could lead to an 81% decrease in vehicle crashes.
- 73% of Americans are afraid to ride in a self-driving vehicle.
- By 2035, self-driving cars will have prevented 1.25 million traffic fatalities.
- Tesla Autopilots states a 40% decrease in car crashes compared to nonautonomous vehicles.
- The accident statistics per million miles driven for Waymo self-driven cars are 0.59, compared to the US rate of 2.98.
California and United States Self-driving Car Accidents Statistics
- As per a recent report by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, nearly 612 self-driving vehicle crashes have been recorded by 16 June 2023.
- California DMV states that the self-driving car accident reports that occurred before 1 January 2019 have been achieved, and many need to be included in the total figure.
- In 2022, roughly 400 autonomous car accidents were recorded over 11 months.
- Teslas is involved in 273 out of 392 self-driven vehicle crashes.
- As per June 2022 data, Tesla has almost 830,000 self-driven cars with the system on the road, but today, the number is higher.
- 56% of Americans don’t feel safe in an autonomous vehicle.
- About 76% of Americans want Congress to install brakes in autonomous vehicles.
Autonomous Vehicle Crash Rate Comparison
- All self-driving vehicles must install a stop button that can be used in an emergency.
- 16% of people would be stress-free by allowing a completely automated car to drive them.
- As per the survey, about 57% of the consumers indicated that they would not feel comfortable buying a self-driving car despite financial issues.
- As per data, in the US, in women and 66% of men, life and death decisions cannot be handed over to the hands of technology.
- In 2021, about 80 firms are actively testing more than 1400 autonomous cars, other vehicles, and trucks in 36 states in Washington.
Impact of COVID-19 on Autonomous Vehicles
- According to the Consumer Technology Association, about 26% of consumers view self-driven technologies more favorably than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Nearly 49% of US consumers rate self-driving delivery technologies as very beneficial.
- Lyft and Aptiv have successfully delivered 100,000 commercial robotaxi rides in Las Vegas.
Investments in Self Driving Vehicles
- Uber Advanced Technologies Group has $1 billion in funding for future research and innovations.
- As per a survey by CBInsights, Audi plans to spend around $16 billion on autonomous and sustainable technologies in 2023.
- As per VentureBeat, Waymo cars have the most self-driving miles and drove 20 million miles on public roads in 25 different cities in the United States in 2020.
- Tesla has invested around $20.2 billion in almost 35 rounds.
- Waymo has invested about $3 billion over two rounds.
Autonomous Cars Market Adoption Statistics
- From 2019 to 2025, the autonomous car market in Asia-Pacific is projected to rise by 29.5%.
- By 2040, about 33 million self-driving vehicles will be on the road.
- Nearly 18.43 million new cars will be sold in 2024 and thus will have level 2 automation, allowing drivers to take their hands off the wheel.
- By 2035, about 15% of vehicles worldwide will be autonomous.
- From 2025 to 2035, the global self-driving vehicles market size is estimated to reach $448.6 billion with a CAGR of 22.2%.
- By 2030, autonomous vehicle sales are estimated to reach 58 million units.
- After the COVID-19 pandemic, an increase of 26% was experienced in consumer’s willingness to try autonomous vehicles.
- By 2040, about 66% of the passenger kilometre cars will be self-driven.
- By 24 October 2023, there will be six self-driven car testing permit holders.
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Recent Self-Driving Car Safety Measures
- Sensor Technology:
- Lidar (Light detection and ranging)
- Radar: Uses of radio to observe the decision of distance and speed.
- Cameras: To capture visual information and help in recognizing objects, marketing, and traffic signs.
- GPS And Mapping Systems:
- Global Positioning System (GPS): This provides accurate location of the point
- High-Definition Maps: Accurate maps help the self-driving car to understand the road environment and plan the routes.
- Machine learning and AI Algorithms: Continued learning of adaptions and decision-making improvements are included in this.
- Redundancy system: Duplicate sensors and control panels to ensure that only 1 component fails.
- Vehicle-to-vehicle-to-everything communication refers to all the vehicles communicating with each other and the infrastructure.
- Emergency responding unit: The ability to detect critical situations and execute in an emergency.
- Cybersecurity measures: Protection from hackers and unauthorized access to ensure the car’s safety.
- Monitoring the Driver Engagement: A system that monitors the driver’s attention to take control if needed.
- Compliance with traffic laws: Traffic rules to ensure the safe integration in other vehicles.
- Fail and Safe Mechanics: Implementing the fail-safe mechanism to get the car to a safe place in case of critical failure.
- Regulatory Compliance: Despite the local and international safety standards, the transport authority sets the rules.
Conclusion
Autonomous cars can revolutionize transportation and reduce human error in car accidents. About 94% of all car accidents are due to human errors, and self-driving vehicles can save millions of lives every year. The above “Self-Driving Car Accidents Statistics” demonstrates the ability of self-driving cars to reduce traffic fatalities, fuel consumption, and car insurance costs. Older adults have a high acceptance rate in consideration of self-driving cars. Self-driving technology is estimated to become more prevalent on the road, with 8 million self-driven cars. From 2021 to 2028, the worldwide self-driving vehicle market is predicted to increase at 39.47% CAGR. It is essential to develop the self-driving technique.
Sources

Pramod Pawar brings over a decade of SEO expertise to his role as the co-founder of 11Press and Prudour Market Research firm. A B.E. IT graduate from Shivaji University, Pramod has honed his skills in analyzing and writing about statistics pertinent to technology and science. His deep understanding of digital strategies enhances the impactful insights he provides through his work. Outside of his professional endeavors, Pramod enjoys playing cricket and delving into books across various genres, enriching his knowledge and staying inspired. His diverse experiences and interests fuel his innovative approach to statistical research and content creation.