content: Traffic fatalities are in the ballpark of 1 per 100 million miles which is many times more than most people will ever drive during their lives. It's mostly going to come down to luck. Really I think it won't take all that much for driverless vehicles to be safer than even very good human drivers. The reason is that the difference between a driver with a perfect driving record and a driver who was just in a fatal accident is the briefest lapse of attention or even momentarily placing your attention in the wrong spot - things every human is guilty of on most every trip they make. On top of not having these issues, automated vehicles are capable of doing things that are literally impossible for humans like seeing through other vehicles, having a perfect 360 degree view at all times, and seeing in conditions in situations where it would be impossible for humans. For instance super dense fog is very difficult and very dangerous for humans but from the perspective of radar it literally doesn't even exist.  Here is a game. This is a video of a Tesla autopilot in action that also shows you a realtime view of what the autopilot sensors are detecting. The video itself is a bit accelerated. Here is a slowed down version. Watch the video in fullscreen. Each time you see an 'actor' (a person, a vehicle, etc) pause the video. You'll find you probably miss quite a lot relative to what the autopilot sees, even in what you're looking straight at. So for instance I think most humans will miss the person at  or  in the slowed video. Perfectly camouflaged and right off a view obscuring turn. The sort of scenario where accidents happen. I was definitely able to beat the autopilot on some things, but not on things that would matter. And unlike myself who's only going to get slower over time the autopilot will only get faster and more accurate over time.