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According to an article by the AP - via an ad-free site several of the self driving cars licensed to drive in California have been involved in accidents.
Most are slow speed accidents, apparently with no injuries.
Four of the nearly 50 self-driving cars now rolling around California have gotten into accidents since September, when the state began issuing permits for companies to test them on public roads. Two accidents happened while the cars were in control; in the other two, the person who still must be behind the wheel was driving, a person familiar with the accident reports told The Associated Press.
Three involved Lexus SUVs that Google Inc. outfitted with sensors and computing power in its aggressive effort to develop "autonomous driving," a goal the tech giant shares with traditional automakers. The parts supplier Delphi Automotive had the other accident with one of its two test vehicles. Google and Delphi said their cars were not at fault in any accidents, which the companies said were minor.
Neither the companies involved, nor the State of California will release details of these accidents, which rankles some critics.
Four accidents involving these 50 cars in 8 months may seem a little high. Google's 23 cars have driven 140,000 miles in that time and racked up 3 accidents all by them selves. That is an order of magnitude higher than the National Transportation Safety Board's figures of 0.3 per 100,000 for non injury accidents. However the NTSB doesn't collect all fender bender accidents.
The article says that none of the other states that permit self driving cars have any record of accidents.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tftp on Tuesday May 12 2015, @12:23AM
Sounds like autonomous cars do things human drivers don't expect. Things that make human drivers run into them.
Perhaps things like minor violations of the law for sake of safety? People usually don't slam on the brakes if the yellow light comes on when they are a few yards away from the intersection. What does a robot car do? What does the driver behind the robot car expect the robot car to do? Does he even have the physical luxury of an instant reaction? And, of course, if a collision occurs... the robot car is not at fault. It would be the fault of the driver behind who was timing his reaction to a human behavior of the driver ahead.
There is yet another thing that automated cars won't be able to do at all until they get an AI. That is prediction of actions of others. Humans do it all the time based on subtle hints. For example, if someone drives straight but keeps looking left, chances are he is considering changing lanes. If a car blinks the turn signal for seventeen miles, it's probably not because the driver is about to make a turn any moment now. If a car is moving to the edge of their lane, merging into yours is likely. One can predict many things based on all kinds of observations. It's easy to see the blinking arrows of road repair crews for several blocks ahead - and to change lane ahead of time, before you are facing the cones. (Merging at that time would be more difficult.) Humans see distracted drivers, tailgaters, suspected drunk drivers and stay away from them. A robot car would be unable to read any of that; it would be happily driving behind a vehicle that weaves across two lanes and oversteers to remain more or less within the road; a human would be already on the phone, calling 911 from a safe distance behind - but not the robot car.
(Score: 0, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Tuesday May 12 2015, @02:14AM
I think it has more to do with the Lexus vehicles -- Lexus vehicles are overwhelmingly driven by Asians. Google engineers are overwhelmingly Asians. Asians are notoriously bad drivers. And in California, to deny a fact more painfully obvious here than anywhere else is too politically incorrect to touch, so of course all of those rice-boys and "exotic princesses" working for Google come out of the woodwork to vindicate their abnormally-high auto insurance rates.
And accidents are the result. Danger and destruction of California highways for the sake of political correctness rather than evaluation of merit.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:21AM
If a car is moving to the edge of their lane, merging into yours is likely.
Not where I'm driving, at least. The drivers in my city seem to be magnetically attracted to having their tires on the lane markings when they have no intention of switching lanes.
Needless to say, I prefer to pass people as quickly as possible.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"