Abstract: Based on the theory of human-machine-environment system engineering, this paper investigated the developing trends of autonomous vehicles and the types of traffic crashes in China, and integrated changing human-vehicle-road factors of traffic system to speculate the possible new types and scenarios of traffic crashes. The recent occurred crash cases involving autonomous vehicles were concerned and investigated. In future, some new affecting factors such as the mix traffic with various autonomous vehicles and piloted vehicles, the switching of driving behavior between human and machine, and the information security of intelligent traffic system, may cause traffic crashes. Among these, the human factors and the influence of environment are still significant. Vulnerable road users are the main groups for automatic vehicles to avoid collision. The relevant laws formulating and the countermeasures for the crash prevention and processing are also suggested.

Key words: autonomous vehicle, human-machine-environment factors, traffic crashes, intelligent transportation