Keeping Pedestrians Safe From Autonomous Vehicles

By John Oncea, Editor

Once upon a time, Google applied for a patent for a system that would make the hood of a car sticky enough to secure a pedestrian hit by the car figuring it's better to stick to the front of the car than to be thrown back into an intersection. Let’s just say that as autonomous vehicles get closer to reality we’ve made some technological improvements in keeping pedestrians safe in the event of a collision.

Drivers in the U.S. killed more than 7,500 pedestrians in 2022, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA). This represents to most pedestrian deaths since 1981 and a 77% increase in fatalities since 2010. All other traffic-related deaths have increased by 25% during the same time.

“Every day, 20 people go for a walk and do not return home. These are people living their daily lives – commuting to and from school and work, picking up groceries, walking the dog, getting some exercise – who died suddenly and violently,” said GHSA Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Adkins. “The saddest part is that these crashes are preventable. We know what works – better-designed infrastructure, lower speeds, and addressing risky driving behaviors that pose a danger to people walking. We must do these things and more to reverse this awful trend and protect people on foot. Enough is enough.”

Earlier this year,  GHSA released a preview of state and national pedestrian traffic deaths for the first six months of 2022, based on preliminary data reported by the State Highway Safety Offices (SHSOs) in 49 states and the District of Columbia (D.C.). The report warned that not only has the number of pedestrian deaths continued to rise over the past decade, but an uptick in dangerous driving behaviors that started in 2020 hasn’t abated, further endangering people on foot.

This new, comprehensive report, Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State: 2022 Preliminary Data, provides a detailed look at projected pedestrian deaths for the full year using additional preliminary data provided by the SHSOs. The data analysis was conducted by Elizabeth Petraglia, Ph.D., with the research firm Westat.

The disturbing surge in pedestrian deaths is attributed to several things, including the prevalence of SUVs’ which tend to be more deadly for pedestrians than smaller cars. A second factor was an increase in speeding and distracted driving caused by empty roads brought about by the pandemic. “The pandemic has waned, but cases of reckless driving — and subsequently the number of Americans killed while walking — has not,” reports NPR.

A third cause is infrastructure. Intelligencer interviewed Yonah Freemark, senior research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, who said, the U.S. has “an infrastructure system that continues to be designed to essentially make streets very dangerous for pedestrians.

“That’s particularly true in what are called suburban arterials — large boulevards or streets that are built in suburban areas, often without sidewalks, often without crosswalks, but which are not interstate highways. They’re large roads that are extremely dangerous for pedestrians, and yet pedestrians are on them because they need to cross them.

Autonomous vehicles (AV) are not mentioned directly in the GHSA report but with people referring to them as “terrifying,” it’s not too soon to start leaning into the technologies that are keeping both riders and pedestrians safe.

AVs And Reducing Pedestrian Deaths

Car manufacturers are, according to Telefonica, relying more on technology to improve road safety for pedestrians, and autonomous cars, as well as the future of road safety, are expected to reach the goal of zero accidents soon.

But to achieve “full autonomous driving without driver intervention, cars need to adapt and integrate advanced technologies. Even so, numerous driver assistance systems can be found, which are a step toward the solutions of the future.”

For a vehicle to be classified as autonomous, it must have a comprehensive understanding of its surroundings. This is achieved through the implementation of advanced technologies, such as camera-based computer vision and global positioning systems. These technologies collect substantial amounts of information from the vehicle's environment, enabling it to identify routes, road signs, other vehicles, pedestrians, and obstacles.

Modern cars are equipped with crash avoidance support systems that allow them to receive external information. By analyzing distance and regulating speed through sensors, this technology significantly reduces the risk of accidents. One such system is the adaptive cruise control, which intervenes in the car's operation to maintain a safe distance from the vehicles in front and behind.

“Another crucial technology for autonomous cars is traffic sign detectors, a breakthrough developed by synchronizing the car’s front camera and sensors,” writes Telefonica. “In this way, the car can adapt its driving behavior to the signals it encounters in the environment. To this end, vehicles must incorporate global positioning systems such as GPS, computer vision through cameras, and connectivity through sensors to be able to exchange information with other elements.”

Legislating Safety

“The nation’s top road safety regulator,” according to Consumer Reports, “wants all new cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks to come with effective automatic emergency braking (AEB) technology, a move that … could save hundreds of lives and prevent tens of thousands of injuries annually.”

To tackle the increasing number of injuries and deaths on roads, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has put forward new regulations. According to the proposed standards, new passenger vehicles should be equipped to prevent a collision with a stationary vehicle at speeds of up to 50 mph without the driver's intervention. If the driver applies the brakes, the speed limit goes up to 62 mph. Additionally, the rule mandates that vehicles must avoid hitting pedestrians at speeds up to 37 mph, even in low-light conditions.

“Most new vehicles already have AEB, thanks in part to a 2016 voluntary agreement involving automakers, NHTSA, IIHS, and CR,” Consumer Report writes. “But the voluntary agreement did not call for pedestrian detection, an important distinction that can cut down on growing pedestrian fatalities.”

The development of AI technology has greatly enhanced vehicle autonomy. The integration of deep learning, especially in pedestrian detection systems, has significantly reduced the error rate of detection systems by up to 100 times. The technological advancements, combined with legislation and infrastructure improvements, may not eliminate pedestrian deaths but should go a long way toward minimizing the number of them.