Since the 1960s, one of the key developments in making cars safer has been the idea of a “crumple zone”, a part of the vehicle (usually the front) that is designed to absorb the energy from a collision by controlled deformation, ie crumpling. By doing this, the zone protects the most important part of the car – the cell containing the driver and passengers. (If you doubt the effectiveness of crumple zones, by the way, a video made some years ago by the Fifth Gear TV programme makes interesting viewing.)
As the world moves to vehicles that drive themselves, our roads are likely to become safer because most road accidents are caused by driver error. That, at any rate, is the standard spiel of evangelists for autonomous vehicles. There will, they say, be many fewer collisions and therefore less carnage on our roads. Crumple zones will become less necessary, though autonomous vehicles will continue to need them.
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