Automated driving tech could end rise in road deaths

Deaths in traffic accidents are on the rise but these fatalities could be reduced if automated technology were installed in passenger vehicles. That’s the conclusion after reading the major findings in two recent reports – •Road deaths rose about 8 percent in 2015; •Adding three types of currently-available automated technology to passenger cars could reduce accidents by about 25 percent. Starting with bullet two, a study from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) found that the installation of blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning systems could stop or make less severe 1.3 million crashes a year. Those crashes cause 10,000 fatalities and 133,000 injuries annually, the researchers report.