Safe Enough: Approaches to Assessing Acceptable Safety for Automated Vehicles

Establishing whether automated vehicles (AVs) are acceptably safe is not straightforward, and continual technology modification adds complication. RAND researchers analyzed three approaches to assessing safety--measurements, processes, and thresholds--and noted the different kinds of evidence associated with each. This report also describes the challenges and options related to communicating about AV safety, especially to the general public.