In the first week of June 2026, Malaysia suffered a string of horrific road accidents.
On June 1, a crash in Kluang, Johor, killed four members of a family and another driver. Two days later, an accident in Serian, Sarawak, claimed five lives, including a two-year-old child. Then on June 7, six people died in Sungai Petani, Kedah, among them an infant.
All together, 16 lives were lost in a single week. While it’s a shocking number, the remarkable thing is that 16 deaths in a week is actually well below Malaysia’s average. In 2025, the country recorded 6,537 road fatalities, which makes about 126 deaths every week.
The economic cost is also significant. The International Road Assessment Programme (iRap) estimates that road accidents cost Malaysia at least RM25bil annually in lost economic value (including the contributions those victims might have made to the economy had the accidents never occurred).
The iRap report goes on to explain how investment in improving the quality of roads can save lives. However, all three cases quoted above can be attributed to driver error in one form or another, and may have still occurred even on better quality roads with improved crash barriers.
For decades, vehicle safety has largely been about protecting people during a crash. Technologies like seat belts and airbags help to make accidents more survivable.
However, we also now have advanced driver assistance systems. It’s an attempt to stop accidents in the first place, with cameras, radar, and sensors continually monitoring the road around the vehicle to look for potential hazards.
If you've driven a newer car recently, you may have experienced the steering wheel vibrating slightly as you drifted towards the edge of your lane. That's likely a lane departure warning (LDW) system reminding you to pay attention. Perhaps the car then gently guided itself back into the lane. That's lane keeping assistance (LKA) taking things one step further.
Note there is a difference between the two examples. LDW provides a warning, and depends on the driver heeding it and taking action. Meanwhile, LKA will intervene and take control of the car's steering wheel if you don't respond. In both cases, the human being can claim full control of the car at any time.
Technology never stands still, of course. The latest generation of car tech goes beyond observing the outside world, and now allows vehicles to talk to everything around them. It’s called vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication.
Imagine a cyclist speeding around a blind corner. Both of you can’t see each other. Yet both vehicles are broadcasting their position and movement. Your car receives the information and warns you before disaster occurs.
Or imagine an ambulance responding to an emergency. It can communicate directly with nearby traffic lights to automatically clear a path ahead.
For more than a decade, V2X existed mainly as a promising idea waiting to mature. The challenge is not the technology itself but almost everything else around it.
Governments need standards so vehicles from different manufacturers can communicate. Regulators must decide when a vehicle should be allowed to override its driver. Engineers need to determine how multiple vehicles should coordinate decisions when everyone is sharing information simultaneously.
It is starting to happen. China has already established national V2X pilot zones and multiple pilot cities built around integrated vehicle-road communication systems. In the United States, regulators have finalised rules governing V2X deployment.
With this progress, it’s obvious to me that responsibility is gradually being divorced from an individual human driver to an intelligent autonomous traffic management system. That may sound controversial, but consider the alternative: Human beings suck at driving.
We get distracted by kids in the back. We become tired and microsleep. We lose our tempers with other drivers and fly into a rage. Then we convince ourselves that rules are for other people. While everyone can improve, it doesn’t mean everyone will actually do so. So perhaps it’s better to just remove humans from the equation.
Germany has already introduced legal frameworks for higher levels of automated driving, and permits autonomous vehicles on public roads under certain conditions. Singapore is currently consulting on legislation to support the safe deployment of autonomous vehicles (the consultation by the republic’s Transport Ministry closes at the end of June 2026).
Meanwhile, Malaysia has set a target of achieving level three autonomous driving capability by 2030. In that time (somehow), local vendors will need to upgrade their capabilities, while local authorities must also improve road conditions and supporting infrastructure. There’s a lot of work to be done, and it needs to be done properly.
Even harder to deal with, there will also be cultural challenges. For example, hardly any Malaysian keeps within the speed limits, and many are happy to make illegal U-turns when it is convenient for them.
People will argue that it’s an infringement on their freedoms, or that they’re unfairly being restricted from driving the way they want to drive. Yet their freedom to drive dangerously cannot possibly come at the expense of other peoples’ lives.
Indeed, if the shift to autonomous driving includes putting those that want to race on the highways in a safer passenger seat, it benefits not only them but also the rest of us.
