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Autonomous vehicle (AV) is regarded as the ultimate solution to future automotive engineering; however, safety still remains the key challenge for the development and commercialization of the AVs. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the development status of AVs and reported accidents is becoming urgent. In this article, the levels of automation are reviewed according to the role of the automated system in the autonomous driving process, which will affect the frequency of the disengagements and accidents when driving in autonomous modes. Additionally, the public on-road AV accident reports are statistically analyzed. The results show that over 3.7 million miles have been tested for AVs by various manufacturers from 2014 to 2018. The AVs are frequently taken over by drivers if they deem necessary, and the disengagement frequency varies significantly from 2 × 10−4 to 3 disengagements per mile for different manufacturers. In addition, 128 accidents in 2014–2018 are studied, and about 63% of the total accidents are caused in autonomous mode. A small fraction of the total accidents (∼6%) is directly related to the AVs, while 94% of the accidents are passively initiated by the other parties, including pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycles, and conventional vehicles. These safety risks identified during on-road testing, represented by disengagements and actual accidents, indicate that the passive accidents which are caused by other road users are the majority. The capability of AVs to alert and avoid safety risks caused by the other parties and to make safe decisions to prevent possible fatal accidents would significantly improve the safety of AVs. Practical applications. This literature review summarizes the safety-related issues for AVs by theoretical analysis of the AV systems and statistical investigation of the disengagement and accident reports for on-road testing, and the findings will help inform future research efforts for AV developments.

The research project aimed at calibrating and validating the driving simulator of the European Interuniversity Research Center for Road Safety to enable its use for design and verification of the effectiveness of temporary traffic signs on highways. The research was developed through the following steps: ( a) a survey of speed measurements on highways next to a work zone of medium duration, ( b) reconstruction in virtual reality of the real situation by using the driving simulator and subsequent running of a series of driving tests, and ( c) statistical analysis of the field speeds and of the speeds from driving simulations for validation of the simulator. The surveyed work zone was located on Highway A1 from Milan to Naples, Italy. Speed measurements were conducted with a laser speed meter in the transition area, the activity area, and the termination area, and in the advance warning area speeds were shot with a camera from an overpass. Speed data from the field and the simulator were analyzed by using the bilateral Z-test for non-matched samples to determine whether drivers responded differently in the simulator compared with their response during the real driving experience. The activity carried out revealed that differences between the speeds observed in the real situation and those measured with the simulator were not statistically significant.

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