Why Google's self-driving car may save lives

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Google's self-driving car got its license this week as the state of Nevada became the first in the nation to license the company's vehicles.
And while a computer-driven car may seem unsettling, the technology represents a potential leap forward in auto safety.

More than 30,000 people are killed each year in crashes despite huge advances in auto safety. The overwhelming majority of those crashes are caused by human-driver error.
Computer driven cars could reduce traffic deaths by a very significant degree, said David Champion, head of auto testing at Consumer Reports, but only if all cars are computer-driven.
"I think if all the cars were self-driving, it would be a benefit," he said. "I think a mixture would be a bit chaotic."
That's because humans are better at predicting the behavior of other humans than computers could ever be, he said.
"When I'm approaching an intersection, I look to see of the other driver is looking at me," said Champion. "If he's looking somewhere else and inching forward, I'm going to lift off the gas."
For the foreseeable future, human "drivers" will continue to bear the ultimate responsibility even in Google' (GOOG, Fortune 500)s self-driving cars. This means you won't be able to lounge in the back seat and check email on your way to work. You'll still have to sit in the driver's seat and pay attention.
Self-driving cars, like Google's, use sensors to watch cars, pedestrians and other obstacles. They combine a number of technologies that are already available on cars today -- including GPS tracking, wheel motion sensors and radar -- with additional technology and sophisticated software that allow the car to read street signs and signals and actually drive itself through traffic.
Google's cars, modified Toyota Priuses, are still in the testing stages and aren't available to the public. But some so-called "driver assistance" technologies are already helping to lower traffic deaths in cars you can buy now.
Electronic Stability Control which uses computers to help drivers maintain control during abrupt maneuvers, has been shown to reduce fatal crashes by as much as a third.

Cars of the future: They're going to be tiny and weird

ESC is now required on all new cars but was first used, on a wide scale, on SUVs. That's why, last year, statistics showed top-heavy SUVs to be less prone to roll over in real-world crashes than regular cars.
Beyond that, there are various other "driver assistance" technologies.
Blind spot alerts warn drivers of cars in adjacent lanes and forward collision alerts sound an alarm when a driver is closing in too quickly on a car ahead.
"We'll start seeing more features that will migrate from just these alerts and warnings to taking a little more control," said John Capp, director of active safety technology at General Motors (GM, Fortune 500).
GM's new Cadillac XTS, for instance, will brake automatically if a driver fails to respond to an imminent collision. Nissan's (NSANY) Infiniti division has a several models that provide slight braking to nudge a vehicle back into its lane if it begins to drift out.
Many luxury cars are now also available with "active cruise control" that allows a car driving at highway cruising speeds to automatically maintain a safe following distance behind the car ahead. In some models, these systems can work even in stop-and-go city traffic.
Systems like these could be helpful, said Champion, but also present the possibility of over-reliance or abuse.
"It all comes down to the person behind the wheel using the system," he said.
Sometimes these systems can cause confusion. For instance, some reports of unintended acceleration in Toyota cars were triggered by drivers failing to understand how an "active cruise control" system worked.
With these systems, drivers set the active cruise control to a certain speed. If there's a slower car ahead, the cruise control will automatically slow the vehicle down to maintain a safe distance between the two cars. Once the slower car moves away, active cruise control will accelerate to the higher preset speed. This acceleration can be startling to drivers unfamiliar with the system.
There is at least some evidence, however, that "driver assistance technologies" do work. A recent study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an insurance industry group, indicated that the forward collision avoidance system in the Volvo XC60 helped reduced accident claims by 27%. Volvo's system warns the driver of an impending collision and applies the brakes if the driver takes no action.

One technology the Google car doesn't utilize, but which would help make self-driving cars much more effective, Champion said, is vehicle-to-vehicle communication. So called V2V communication uses transmitters to send and receive signals that tell other cars where each car is, where it's headed and how fast it's moving. The devices can also communicate with transmitters along the road.
V2V is already in advanced stages of development by a consortium of automakers and the federal government's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

10 Steps to Finding the Right Car for You

Edmund.com's Buying Tips
By Philip Reed, Senior Consumer Advice Editor

Step 1: What kind of car do you need?
If you examine your needs rather than wants, you will quickly discover what the right car is for you. In too many cases people choose a car for its styling or because it is a trendy favorite. Let your needs, not your wants, drive your decision.

Step 2: How much can you afford?
Regardless of whether you decide to buy or lease your next car, establishing a realistic monthly payment that fits into your budget is crucial. How much should this be? A rule of thumb is your total monthly car payments shouldn't exceed 20 percent of your monthly take-home pay.

Step 3: Should you lease or buy your next car?
A lease requires little or no money up front and offers lower monthly payments. But when the lease ends, you are left without a car and will need to replace it. Buying a car is more expensive initially and the monthly payments are higher. But at the end of the loan, you will own a car you can still drive or sell.

Advantages of Leasing	Advantages of Buying
You can drive a more expensive car for less money. You can drive a new car every few years. There are no trade-in hassles at the end of the lease.	When interest rates are low, is better to own a car rather than lease it. There are no unexpected mileage penalties for increased driving. There's more flexibility — you can sell the car whenever you want.

Step 4: Have you considered all vehicles in that class?
In today's crowded automotive marketplace, many consumers have difficulty keeping up with all of the vehicles available.

Step 5: Have you considered all of the costs of ownership?
Even if two cars cost about the same to buy, one can depreciate at a different rate or cost significantly more to insure or maintain. Before you commit to one car, you should estimate the long-term ownership costs of the vehicle you are considering. These include depreciation, insurance, maintenance and fuel costs

Step 6: Research options.
In the past, car buyers have been trained to visit local dealerships to find the car they want. In the Internet age, this is a waste of time and money. You can quickly cover more ground by shopping online. The only things you have to do in person are test-driving the car and sign the contract. And in some cases, you can even have the car delivered to you by the salesperson.

Step 7: Schedule an appointment for a test drive.
It's a good idea to make your initial contact with a dealership by phone or e-mail before going there in person. This can give you a sense of the sales style you will be dealing with throughout the buying process. Call the Internet department (sometimes called the fleet department) and ask if the car you're looking for - in the right color and trim level - is actually on the lot.

Step 8: How to test drive a car.
The test-drive should replicate the conditions the car will be used in after you buy it. If you commute, drive the car in both stop-and-go traffic and at freeway speeds. Drive over bumps, take tight corners and test the brakes in a safe location. In short, ask yourself if you can live with this car for a number of years.

Step 9: After the test drive.
After the test-drive, you should leave the car lot. Why? You will probably need to drive other types of cars at other dealerships. It's a good idea to do your entire test-driving in one morning or afternoon. Driving the cars back-to-back will help you uncover differences that will lead to an educated purchase decision.

Step 10: Getting ready for the buying cycle.
At this point you should have considered all the cars in the class that interest you. You should have a good idea what you can afford. You should know if you want to buy or lease your next car. You should have test-driven your top choices.

Study Shows When Teen Drivers Most Likely to Crash

(AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety)

The facts are well known: teenagers have the highest crash rate of any age group in the United States, and the most dangerous time is when they drive on their own after being licensed.

But there has been little research conducted as they transition from supervised to unsupervised driving, according to the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, a nonprofit research and educational organization.

The foundation released two new studies on Friday in conjunction with National Teen Driver Safety Week (October 16-22) that provide insight into teenage driving behavior and their crashes during this critical period.

Teen drivers are about 50 percent more likely to crash in the first month of unsupervised driving than they are after a full year of experience driving on their own, and they are nearly twice as likely to crash in their first month as they are after two full years of experience, according to Measuring Changes in Teenage Driver Crash Characteristics During the Early Months of Driving.

“We know that young drivers’ crash rates decrease quickly as they gain experience,” Peter Kissinger, president and chief executive of the foundation, said in a statement. What the study tells us, he said, “is that there are a few specific abilities that we could do a better job of helping teens develop before they begin driving independently.”

Researchers analyzed the crashes of new drivers in North Carolina and found three common mistakes: failure to reduce speed, inattention, and failure to yield. These three behaviors accounted for 57 percent of all the crashes in which teens were at least partially responsible during their first month of licensed driving. Additionally, when researchers looked at specific types of crashes in relation to how long the driver had been licensed, they found that some types of crashes occurred at relatively high rates at first then declined quickly with experience. Crash types that declined more slowly appeared to result not from lack of understanding, but from failure to master certain driving skills.

A second report, Transition to Unsupervised Driving, studied 38 families with teenage drivers in North Carolina by collecting data using in-vehicle cameras. A total of nearly 6,000 video clips were analyzed. The study followed the teens during the first six months of licensed driving without their parents in the car. (An earlier phase of the study collected data from cameras during the period when the teens were learning to drive under their parents’ supervision.)

While the vast majority of driving caught on camera was uneventful and only a small number of deliberate risk-taking behaviors were observed, the study did reflect that the teens’ behavior shifted when their parents were not present. For example, the vast majority of “close calls” involved judgment errors that seemed to indicate inexperience and failure to anticipate changes in the traffic environment.

“This research serves as a great reminder for parents to stay involved in the learning process even after the law allows teens to drive without a parent in the car,” Kissinger added.

The Foundation commissioned the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center to conduct both studies.

For more information and to view the video footage and the two reports, visit: www.AAAFoundation.org

Tanya Mohn, Contributor

I write about travel and road safety