Self-driving

There have certainly been a few incidents even though completely self-driving cars are not yet legal on the roads of the UK,

as there are still questions about the law.

https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/consumer-news/102878/driverless-car-users-may-not-be-liable-accidents

but odd incidents occur.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-43934504 for example

Not aware of fatalities yet.

Mike.

So I asked why the manufacturer does not block the self-driving systems ?

Because selling a vehicle with self-driving as a feature, and then blocking the self driving feature, isn't going to go down too well with the customers.

Hi Simon,
I understand, therefore it is important that the manufacturer performs all the safety tests before the vehicle is marketed to customers, further I say that the autonomous systems of their kind the manufacturer can not install until a thorough study is carried out and approved by the safety administration.

The thing about Tesla's system is that they push all responsibility back on the driver.  You can engage it and take your hands off the steering wheel.  But if anything unexpected happens, it's the drivers responsibility to grab the steering wheel and take over at any time.

From my point of view, such a system is largely useless.  And a lot of Tesla's customers aren't paying for the self-driving "upgrade" however hard the sales people push it.

Self drive can work on railways where the permanent way ahead is totally secure.  But roads are definitely not securely fenced, people and animals can cross and step into the path of a vehicle.  Greenwich park had a demonstration self drive bus which anyone walking could overtake as it was programmed to detect anyone within a few metres with laser beams which would then stop the bus. Dogs, flying pieces of paper anything would bring it to a halt. 

A self drive car in busy high street would never ever be able to pull away from the curb.

Concerning autonomous systems in general, this is a very active area of interest. The UK Safety Critical Systems Club (SCSC) at the University of York has an autonomous systems working group which has published a report (SCSC153B). YOu can find a link at https://scsc.uk/ga and join the group if you are appropriately qualified. The Royal Academy of Engineering has published two recent reports, The Journey to an Autonomous Transport System (summary of a roundtable discussion) in December 2020 at https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/the-journey-to-an-autonomous-transport-system and and overview of a project the RAEng has, with IET as a partner, on the Safety and Ethics of Autonomous Systems in June 2020 at https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/safety-and-ethics-of-autonomous-systems . To answer the question specifically, a Google search did not turn up recent reports of accidents involving active Autopilot in the UK. Reuters reported an Tesla incident with injuries in August 2021 on the grounds of a school, at https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/six-injured-self-driving-tesla-crashes-school-car-park-southern-england-2021-08-16/ and the BBC reported it at https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-sussex-58234999 ; I take it to be unlikely that the car was under Autopilot control at the time.

I think you're a few years behind the state of the art.  There are now self-driving Waymo taxis in Phoenix Arizona.  At the moment, they can only go on roads that are precisely mapped, but they are driving around on public highways with all the other traffic.

But they do get totally confused by road works.

https://eandt.theiet.org/content/articles/2022/03/automated-vehicles-will-no-longer-require-steering-wheels-in-the-us

"Fully autonomous vehicles in the US will not need to come with manual driving controls following updates to the highway safety rules by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)."  Article in the Engineering and Technology.

Now even the "driver" will not be able to intervene.