How Self-Driving Cars Might Change Crash Testing Forever

How Self-Driving Cars Might Change Crash Testing Forever. But the emergence of self-driving cars like the Tesla Cybercab has nudged governments to take a fresh look at an older, dangerous issue.

What happened

Today, companies hoping to deploy self-driving cars with different seating configurations mostly choose to go through what can be a lengthy process to get special government approval. Alex Mueller, a senior research scientist at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety who researches driver assistance and automation technologies, is watching the US’s process of revising its vehicle safety standards closely. (She’s not related to her IIHS colleague Becky Mueller. ) The Trump administration is streamlining and updating rules to make it easier and faster for self-driving cars to hit public roads.

Aarian MarshallLyft Sees a Future for Its Drivers in a Driverless World: Servicing WaymosA team-up with Waymo in Nashville has former Lyft drivers maintaining self-driving cars. It’s a good time to make sweeping changes. ”Crashing OutPhotograph: Smith Collection/Getty ImagesSeatbelts are designed to be worn around upright, forward-facing bodies. The process took months, and Zoox received permission this summer to use up to 5,000 cars in its robotaxi service for two years. (Tesla is also trying to self-certify its Cybercab; the NHTSA is currently investigating the issue. )But the government is looking for a more permanent solution to driverless safety questions.

Crash tests with THORs are written into some countries' vehicle safety standards globally, and many consumer crash-testing programs use the devices in their tests. Since 2019, Humanetics has been testing THOR-AV, a new line of dummies and simulated online tools developed specifically to test the seating designs and postures seen in driverless cars.

The wider picture

But right now, no regulators or outside safety groups require crash testing with the THOR-AV dummies, says Chris O'Connor, the president and CEO of Humanetics. Lie down in a car, and you’re more likely to get seriously hurt in a crash. But a driverless future is forcing governments to revisit long-standing safety issues. In fact, passengers sitting in less-than-standard positions in any car are more likely to get hurt in a crash, even with their seatbelts fastened.

According to US federal safety data, 42 people killed in traffic crashes in the past decade were identified as “seat back not in normal upright position, seat back reclined. ”That’s likely an undercount. After a crash, “it's really hard to identify people who are sitting out of position,” says Becky Mueller, a senior research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Crashes move human bodies, and emergency responders work quickly to extricate hurt people from damaged vehicles.

Very few are noting, or even have a way to note, exactly how victims were sitting before or during a crash. “NHTSA decided to explore reclined occupants as a starting point for automated vehicle occupant safety based on the potential that occupants may choose to ride in a reclined posture if driving was no longer necessary,” the spokesperson wrote in a statement to WIRED.

What has been reported

Airbags are configured for people sitting in this way, and the dummies used in crash tests have inflexible pelvises, which means they physically can’t slouch. So when a reclining body, or one sitting sideways, gets into a traffic crash, the seatbelt doesn’t do what it’s devised to—it tightens around the soft belly instead of the hard, bony pelvis. Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary, tried in 2022 to self-certify that its vehicle met safety standards, but the federal government didn’t buy it.

In a March report to Congress, the NHTSA indicated its researchers are at least looking into how to stop the kind of injuries that occur in cars, and especially driverless ones, where passengers aren’t sitting exactly as the current standards anticipate they will. One area of study: Advanced crash-test dummies designed to be tested with the sorts of seatbelts and seating conditions found in autonomous vehicles. Big DummyHumanetics, the world’s largest manufacturer of crash dummies, is working on it.

He expects the first country to mandate the new crash-test products won’t be the US, but China, which has spent the past decade aggressively pushing its inexpensive and impressive electric vehicles into new global markets. He expects the country to require reclined crash tests in two or three years.

What happens next

European countries that sell into China would have to follow, and O’Connor says automakers there have started working with the new crash dummy to prepare. CommentsBack to topJoin the discussionCommentsBack to topYou Might Also LikeIn your inbox: WIRED's most ambitious, future-defining storiesAI slop backlash is actually having an impactBig Story: The cop who took on FlockThe rise of the 1am job interviewWatch: I stole a car by hacking this hidden deviceAarian Marshall is a staff writer covering transportation systems and cities.

It’s mighty pricey, but the US gets a cheaper model. Let one of these robot buddies maintain your water quality insteadChristopher NullInside Meta’s Push to Put Robots to Work in Data CentersThe company is testing robots that can swap cables, reset servers, and take on other tasks performed by technicians, fueling concerns among some workers that their jobs could be at risk. Skip to main contentSave this storySave this storyIn a video posted on X, a Tesla enthusiast hops into what was once the driver’s seat of a new matte gold Cybercab.

“Once” because the vehicle, which officially hit the streets earlier this month as part of Tesla’s Robotaxi ride-hail service, doesn’t have a steering wheel or brake pedals. For the person in the front seat, this opens up new possibilities.