Self-driving cars are safer than those driven by humans, except when it is dusk, dawn, or the vehicle is turning, according to a new study.
Autonomous vehicles are involved in fewer accidents than cars driven by humans, researchers from the University of Central Florida have found.
However, although the research generally showed self-driving cars to be safer, it did discover they seem more prone to accidents in specific situations.
During low-light conditions at dawn or dusk, they were more than five times more likely to have an accident than a human-driven car.
While turning, self-driving cars were nearly two times more likely to have an accident.
There have been a number of high profile crashes of self-driving cars and just last week, a car in self-driving mode crashed into a police car in California while officers were responding to a deadly collision.
Self-driving cars could be on UK roads by 2026, after a new law passed in May.
The law is intended to create jobs as well as improve road safety by “reducing human error, which contributes to 88% of road collisions”, according to the Department for Transport.
Last year, a UK study by the Institute of Mechanical Engineers suggested seven out of ten people would be uncomfortable travelling in an autonomous vehicle with no human control.
Nearly a third (29%) of people worried about how the car would deal with accidents.
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