In a statement, Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems has expressed its support for the aims of the newly launched “Road to Zero” coalition—with a mission to eliminate traffic deaths within the next 30 years—along with the role of driverless technologies in helping to meet the target goal. But the company also believes an incremental approach to the development of the technologies is essential. The driving public, Bendix urges, must be given enough time to fully understand how the systems work, and how they affect driver responsibility, at each new level of advancement.
Announced last week by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), the “Road to Zero” coalition teams three DOT agencies—the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Highway Administration and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration—with the National Safety Council. The DOT has committed $1 million a year over the next three years to provide grants to organizations working on programs to save lives.
The department noted that 2015 marked the largest increase in traffic deaths since 1966. For the first half of 2016, the DOT said, the increase has continued, as preliminary estimates show fatalities are up about 10.4% compared to the number in the first half of 2015.
Rapid introduction of automated vehicles and advanced technologies, according to the department, is making it increasingly likely that the vision of zero road deaths and serious injuries is attainable in the next 30 years.
“The target of zero deaths is what drives all of us involved in safety technology development. At Bendix, we applaud the agencies for publicly owning that goal and defining an approach and timeline that give them a realistic chance of accomplishing it,” said Fred Andersky, director of government and industry affairs for Bendix. “We can’t rush the movement toward driverless vehicles, however. Doing so may create more problems than we solve. Rushing and hyping technologies before the public understands how they really work and what it means in terms of driver responsibility is a path to disaster. Driverless is evolutionary, not revolutionary.”
