After recognizing that a collision of some kind is inevitable, the system works by analyzing all available options and choosing the course of action with the least serious outcome. "What can we do in order to minimize the consequences?" said Amir Khajepour, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo. The first rule for the autonomous vehicle (AV) crash-mitigation technology is avoiding collisions with pedestrians. From there, it weighs factors such as relative speeds, angles of collision and differences in mass and vehicle type to determine the best possible manoeuvre, such as braking or steering in one direction or another. "We consider the whole traffic environment perceived by the autonomous vehicle, including all the other vehicles and obstacles around it," said Dongpu Cao, also a mechanical and mechatronics engineering professor at Waterloo.