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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: 3, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Tuesday May 12 2015, @03:17AM
Sounds like autonomous cars do things human drivers don't expect. Things that make human drivers run into them.
I actually agree with this, but for a very different reason than you probably expect. I live in a big city (top 40 in the U.S.) and if there's one thing I expect of my fellow drivers in the city, it's that they suck at driving.
I expect people to wander into my lane. I expect people to not signal (a relative in the area joked it's a sign of weakness). I expect people to drive recklessly.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"