InsideAnalysis
InsideAnalysis
InsideAnalysis
Safety First? Stats Over Stories, Please
51 minutes Posted Aug 22, 2026 at 10:06 pm.
0:00
51:48
Download MP3
Show notes

Promises, promises! We've been told time and again that self-driving cars will save lives. But there's more to safety than crash data. If an autonomous vehicle blocks a fire truck, for example, that's a severe edge case. And there are many others like it. Most people tend to focus more on stories than stats, which causes friction when the self-driving auto industry tries to make its pitch.

Join this episode of InsideAnalysis to hear from the legendary Carnegie Melon visionary, Philip Koopman, the man who helped write the safety standards for self-driving cars. He'll be joined by AI architectural guru Mark Madsen of Third Nature, who's worked with numerous car companies over the years to create their data and analytics products. Attendees will learn:

* Why perceptions of safe behavior often belie statistics
* How edge cases can undermine traditional testing and engineering
* Why crash rates provide an incomplete picture of autonomous safety
* How this next generation of vehicles creates an accountability conundrum