Benefits and costs of fleet-wide deployment of blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning crash avoidance systems.
Nationwide, United States
Cost and benefit estimates of partially-automated vehicle collision avoidance technologies
Summary Information
This paper evaluates the benefits and costs of fleet-wide deployment of blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, and forward collision warning crash avoidance systems within the US light-duty vehicle fleet.
Methodology
Two estimates are made to provide insight on current trends and technology potential. First, an upper bound of relevant U.S. crashes that could potentially be avoided or made less severe by the three technologies is estimated, assuming 100 percent technology effectiveness. Next, a lower bound in U.S. crash reduction is estimated using current changes in observed insurance collision claim frequency and severity (average loss payment per claim) in vehicles with these technologies. After these estimates are made, an annualized cost to equip each vehicle with the technologies enables a cost benefit analysis for the lower bound and upper bound estimates of net benefits in the U.S.
Findings
These three crash avoidance technologies could collectively prevent or reduce the severity of as many as 1.3 million U.S. crashes a year, including 133,000 injury crashes and 10,100 fatal crashes.
All three technologies could collectively provide a lower bound annual benefit of about $18 billion ($20 per vehicle) and an upper bound annual benefit of $202 billion ($861 per vehicle) if equipped on all light-duty vehicles, based on 2015 pricing.