An Evaluation of the Safety Effectiveness and Cost of Autonomous Vehicles Based on Multivariable Coupling

There is a need for in-depth studies of autonomous vehicle safety that evaluate the effectiveness of safety functions and different “atomic” technology combinations for vehicles and roads. In this paper, we provide a crash avoidance effectiveness evaluation model for autonomous vehicles enabled with different sensor combinations based on multiple variables of 14 different “atomic” sensing technologies on the vehicle side and road side, 52 safety functions, and 14 accident types. Meanwhile, a cost-sharing model is developed based on the traveled distance during the life cycle of vehicles and based on the traffic flow over the life cycle of roads to evaluate the unit cost per km of different “atomic” technology combinations. The results clearly show that the cost increases with the addition of “atomic” sensing technologies on the vehicle side, while an increase in crash avoidance effectiveness decreases. It is necessary to switch to V2X and to introduce roadside “atomic” technology combinations to realize better safety effectiveness at a lower cost for vehicles. In addition, a map that covers the safety effectiveness and cost per kilometer of all “atomic” technology combinations is calculated for decision-makers to select combinations under the preconditions of cost and safety.