How many times have you thought: “I wish this accident never happened”? From minor dings and scratches to major damage, accidents will happen. What if those accidents could be prevented?
Many people think self-driving cars are the answer to accident prevention. It’s understandable why – they play a role in accident avoidance by keeping track of the car’s surroundings and making decisions accordingly.
While accident avoidance is a good thing, there are two sides to every accident story. What if self-driving cars cause accidents that might not have happened otherwise? How would collision repairers help in this situation? Before getting into the nitty gritty of accident prevention, let’s first look at accident statistics.
While accident statistics are readily available, it is difficult to get accurate accident figures due to the different ways in which self-driving cars can be defined and because accident reporting methods aren’t universal throughout the world. While many critics suggest that accident numbers could go up with self-driving car tech, other reports show that accident reduction could range anywhere from 40% to as high as 90%. One thing is for sure: accident numbers will not decrease overnight.
There are multiple solutions and technologies that must be in place before self-driving cars can become a reality; they include accident prevention, accident reporting and accident recovery (collision repair). Collision repairers play an important role in all three of these accident areas.
What do accident prevention and self-driving cars have in common? Sensors, cameras and more sensors! These technologies help keep a car from experiencing an accident while the car is either being used manually or autonomously. In fact, Volvo recently announced that by 2020, every accident they are involved in will be due to human error. If accident prevention is the future, which it appears to be, collision repairers need to be prepared for an influx of accident-free vehicles.
For accident reporting, self-driving cars also play a role in accident data collection and accident analysis. This will not only improve safety features on cars but could also lead to changes in accident reporting methods. Collision repairers need to be prepared for accident data gathering not only from sensors on a car but also accident reports from the accident scene itself.
Lastly, collision repairers have a role in accident recovery. Self-driving cars can malfunction and accidents can happen even with accident prevention technologies at work. When they do, collision repairers will be there to repair accident-free vehicles.
We can’t put a price on accident prevention, but everyone who drives or rides in cars needs collision repair after an accident. So how do self-driving cars play into accident recovery? From accident avoidance to accident data gathering, self-driving cars are becoming prevalent, and collision repairers must stay ahead of the accident curve.