In a bid to prove that its robot drivers are safer than humans, Waymo simulated dozens of real-world fatal crashes that took place in Arizona over nearly a decade. The Google spinoff discovered that replacing either vehicle in a two-car crash with its robot-guided minivans would nearly eliminate all deaths, according to data it publicized today. The results are meant to bolster Waymo's case that autonomous vehicles operate more safely than human-driven ones. With millions of people dying in auto crashes globally every year, AV operators are increasingly leaning on this safety case to spur regulators to pass legislation allowing more fully autonomous vehicles on the road. But that case has been difficult to prove out, thanks to the very limited number of autonomous vehicles operating on public roads today.

A new AI system developed by researchers from Google and the University of California could prevent deaths caused by incorrect prescriptions. While quite rare, prescriptions that are incorrect – or react badly to a patient's existing medications – can result in hospitalisation or even death. In a blog post today, Alvin Rajkomar MD, Research Scientist and Eyal Oren PhD, Product Manager, Google AI, set out their work on using AI for medical predictions. The AI is able to predict which conditions a patient is being treated for based on certain parameters. "For example, if a doctor prescribed ceftriaxone and doxycycline for a patient with an elevated temperature, fever and cough, the model could identify these as signals that the patient was being treated for pneumonia," the researchers wrote.

Traffic wastes time and money almost everywhere on the planet, so congestion is the bogeyman many transportation planners hope to defeat. Attendees at the most-recent Transportation Techies Meetup – held at Mobility Lab in Arlington, Va., and focused on traffic solutions – got a taste of several early-stage tech/planning options. "Data and technology are becoming more and more crucial in planning for safer streets. This becomes even more important as autonomous vehicles begin to come online," said Paul Mackie, Mobility Lab's communications director. How are DOTs handling data for projects like AVs and Vision Zero?