Autonomous Vehicles as a Way to Mitigate Traffic Accidents: A Literature Review of Obstacles of Its Implementation

Autonomous vehicles have been announced as innovative solutions for transport with the potential for changes in the transport of cargo and passengers. The objective of this paper is to analyze the challenges of vehicle automation adoption to mitigate traffic accidents. To do so, a literature review was conducted, and the implications were verified in the light of the Brazilian case. The results suggest that the country has great potential to benefit from the implementation of autonomous vehicles since it has a large number of traffic accidents caused by human error, such as distraction, tiredness, and recklessness, among others. However, the literature indicated that the barriers to the implementation of autonomous cars refer to; the need for improvements in obstacle detection by autonomous vehicles; users’ perception regarding the adoption of this technology; questions about the interaction between pedestrians and drivers; cost competitiveness of vehicles; as well as the need of improvement in road safety and reduction of accidents.