Why Simulated Roads Make Self-Driving Cars Safer

Safety is paramount when developing any vehicle, whether driven by a person or a computer. During the development of autonomous vehicles, the self-driving technologies must be evaluated again and again in a variety of driving conditions to ensure they are even safer than human-driven cars. Sometimes this means testing in the real world on actual roads. But equally important, it means using simulation to augment actual driven miles. In particular, simulation can be effective in testing dangerous or uncommon driving conditions. The flexibility and versatility of simulation make it especially valuable. Without simulation, it would be far too dangerous to determine how self-driving vehicles react to certain real scenarios — like a child darting out into the street from behind a parked car, or another vehicle running a red light.