allheart55 (Cindy E)
Administrator
We finally have video documentation of the moment when one of Google’s self-driving cars slammed into a passenger bus last month. And it’s … really underwhelming.
In the video (published by the Associated Press), you can see the interior of the bus as Google’s car slowly collides with it. The crash seems to have been so minor that the bus driver’s reaction at the moment of impact can at best be described as slightly annoyed.
The incident occurred when one of Google’s self-driving Lexus SUVs was pulling away from the shoulder of a California road into traffic. According to Google, the autonomous vehicle predicted that a bus traveling down the road would yield and let the self-driving car pull out.
Unfortunately, that’s not what happened. The bus kept driving at 15 miles per hour, and Google’s car, which was moving at all of 2 miles per hour, hit the bus.
Google’s SUV ended up with a busted front end, the bus had some slight damage, and no one involved was injured.
While the crash was relatively minor, it’s still noteworthy because it’s the first time Google has admitted that one of its cars caused an accident. Previous accidents that Google’s vehicles were involved in turned out to be the fault of other drivers.
And while it might sound scary that a self-driving car caused an accident, the truth of the matter is that, according to Google, the vehicle was smart enough to think that the bus was going to slow down to let it merge into traffic.
Even the autonomous car’s operator, who was in the driver’s seat at the time, thought the bus was going to let the vehicle merge. In other words, Google’s car did exactly what most human drivers would have done in the same situation.
To see this as an indictment against the use of self-driving cars would be a mistake. The vast majority of accidents on the road are caused by driver error. Google’s crash is a minor growing pain in an industry-wide effort to eliminate serious injuries and deaths caused by auto accidents. And while this incident didn’t play out as the company had hoped, it will likely help prevent similar situations in the future.
Via: The Associated Press
