Simulation testing comes of age

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) promise to eliminate human error from the roadways and create a dramatically safer mobility experience. But only if they work as intended. Confirming functionality under all circumstances and in all scenarios is a daunting task. To do so entirely in real-world testing could prove nearly impossible. The non-profit research organisation RAND Corporation projects that AVs would need to drive "hundreds of millions of miles and sometimes hundreds of billions of miles to demonstrate their reliability in terms of fatalities and injuries." Even the most arduous testing schedule would mean that autonomous fleets could take decades or more to meet the target.