Google announced today that in June, two self-driving Lexus SUVs were involved in accidents. In both cases, the accidents were due to human error.
Google's self-driving cars have been involved in 14 "minor accidents" after 1.8 million miles of autonomous driving to date. Today, the company released its second report on its self-driving cars.
Two new accident reports, submitted to the California Department of Motor Vehicles, are entertaining – but they show that self-driving cars are less likely to cause accidents compared to cars driven by humans.
June 4, 2015: A Lexus model of Google’s autonomous vehicle (“Google AV”) was traveling westbound on California St. in Mountain View in autonomous mode and stopped behind other cars at a red light at the intersection of California St. and Rengstorff Ave. A vehicle approaching from behind collided with the rear bumper of the Google AV. The Google AV had been stopped for approximately 17 seconds prior to the collision. The approximate speed of the other vehicle at the time of the impact was <1 mph. There was no damage to either vehicle and no injuries were reported to the people involved.
June 18, 2015: A Lexus model of Google’s autonomous vehicle (“Google AV”) was traveling north on California St. in Mountain View in autonomous mode and had stopped at a red light at the intersection of California St. and Bryant St. The lane to the left of the Google AV was a single-lane left turn. The vehicle directly behind the Google AV began moving forward when the green arrow for the left turn signal turned on (despite the fact that the light for the straight lane was red) and collided with the rear bumper of the Google AV. The Google AV had been stopped for approximately 11 seconds prior to the time of the collision. The other vehicle was traveling at approximately 5 mph. No injuries were reported to anyone involved. The Google AV sustained minor damage (scratches) to the rear bumper. The other vehicle suffered minor damage (scratches) to the front bumper.
Read the full report for the month of June from the PDF.
