Google’s self-driving car involved in bus accident at Silicon Valley street
01 Mar 2016
A self-driving car being tested by Google was involved in a minor accident with a public bus on a Silicon Valley street, probably the first instance of one of the tech company's vehicles caused a crash during testing.
The collision, which occurred on 14 February when one of the Lexus SUVs Google had outfitted with sensors and cameras struck the side of the bus near the company's headquarters in Mountain View, California.
The collision did not cause injuries to anyone, according to Google's submission to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The report was posted online yesterday.
The report said Google's car, while turning right off a major boulevard, detected sandbags around a storm drain at the intersection.
The right lane was wide enough to allow some of the cars to turn while letting others go straight. The Lexus needed to slide to its left within the right lane to get around the obstruction.
The Lexus, which was moving at 2 mph moved to its left and struck the right side of the bus, which was going straight at 15 mph.
According to Google, the car's test driver, who needed to grab the wheel thought the bus would yield and did not have control before the collision.
Google said in a written statement, ''We clearly bear some responsibility, because if our car hadn't moved there wouldn't have been a collision.''
Google has said it would learn from the accident between one of its self-driving cars and a bus.
Google added, the crash came from the same kind of negotiations and misunderstandings that took place between human drivers every day.
It added, its cars would now have a better understanding that buses and other large vehicles were less likely to give way than smaller ones. The software had been changed to factor in this consideration.
