Google's self-driving SUV [Courtesy of Google]
It’s not the first time for Google’s self-driving car or autonomous car to get involved in a traffic accident, but usually, the autonomous car was the one at the receiving end. This time, Google’s self-driving SUV crashed into a bus.
Google filed a California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) report on Monday, confirming that the company’s self-driving Lexus RX45h collided with a bus. According to Google, the accident happened when the self-driving car made its way into the center lane to evade some sand bags before making a turn to the right.
The self-driving car and its test driver incorrectly assumed that a bus behind them will slow down or stop to let the self-driving car through, but instead the bus did not. The Lexus collided into the side of the bus at low-speed, resulting in minor damage to a fender, and sensors. No injuries were reported from the accident.
Experts of the industry see this case proved that self-driving system is not yet ready for actual driving on the road since self-driving car made a decision which it thought to be the best at that moment, but it led to an accident.
In normal road traffic conditions, the self-driving car made the right decision as many (most of) other drivers would let a way for cars under such awkward conditions, but some drivers tend to drive on, not letting a way.
This would be a very hard obstacle for Google in programming self-driving cars since the company cannot let the computer anticipate all possible hazard on the road because it will only get more confused and make wrong decisions. But if they don’t accidents like this will be a frequent one.
Aju News Park Sae-jin = swatchsjp@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
