The self-driving revolution is not without some infamy. According to a series of news reports, a Google car was involved in a crash with a municipal bus, and now, the company says that it bears “some responsibility” for the incident.
The crash occurred earlier this month. According to the reports, this is the first time that a Google car is involved in a crash in which the self-driving car is to blame. Google reports that, after the crash, engineers made changes to the software to avoid incidents like this one.
According to a report from February 23rd, which was filed by California regulators, the crash occurred in Mountain View on February 14. The self-driving Lexus RX450h that was being tested attempted to get around some sandbags in a wide lane. As the self-driving car continued, the test driver believed the bus would slow down to allow the Google car to continue. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. As the Google car re-entered the center of the lane, it crashed into the side of the bus. The left front fender, front wheel, and driver side sensor in the vehicle suffered some damage, but no injuries were reported.
In a statement released on Monday, Google reported that the company bears some responsibility for the crash because the vehicle moved. If it hadn’t, there wouldn’t be a collision.
According to multiple reports, the Santa Clara Valley TRansportation Authority will investigate the incident and the factors in order to learn more about who’s to blame for the collision.
The bus involved in the crash suffered minor damage, reports show. According to the privacy project director for the advocacy group Consumer Watchdog, this accident is proof that the self-driving system is still not ready for autopilot.
According to Google, the company has reviewed the incident and is now adding additional variations to the simulator in order to refine the software. Google reports that, from now on, the system will be more likely to understand that buses and other larger vehicles are not as likely to yield to the self-driving vehicles. The company hopes that this change will help the system to handle the situation more gracefully.
Whether this incident is Google’s fault or not, consumers should stay alert to the changes and advances when it comes to the the self-driving tech. As automakers and tech companies come together to develop better, safer cars, newer vehicles will benefit from their discoveries.
For more information on this accident and what Google is saying about it, follow this link.
