Google recognizes 11 accidents in cars without drivers – The Trade

LOS ANGELES. Google said its driverless cars were involved in 11 traffic accidents since he began experimenting with the technology six years ago.

The company released the figure after The Associated Press published that Google had notified the authorities of California Three collisions driverless vehicles had signature from September, when they learned of the accident to the relevant agencies became a legal requirement in the authorization for testing on public roads.

The project manager driverless car Google wrote in a message on Internet that the 11 accidents were minor: “light damage, no injuries,” and that occurred in test drives accumulating 2.7 million kilometers, including almost 1.6 million kilometers on autopilot

“At no time was the vehicle without a driver caused the accident,” said Chris Urmson of Google

“Trigger” is a key word. Like Delphi Automotive as one of two test vehicles . had an accident in October, Google said its units had not been at fault

Delphi sent to the AP in an accident report which shows that his vehicle was hit; however, Google has not publicly released materials , so both fans and detractors of the new technology have available only the word of the company about what happened.

The Department California Motor Vehicles said it could not release details of the accident reports.

This lack of transparency is a problem for critics, who are interested as to enable the public to observe the development of a technology that its creators recognize still is not perfect.

John Simpson, project manager privacy nonprofit organization Consumer Watchdog said Google’s ultimate goal is a vehicle without a steering wheel and pedals.

In a vehicle with these characteristics the person on board could not take command if the car is out of control, a situation that “is even more important that the public release of the details of any accidents, to so people can know what the hell is going on. “

In its report the accident, he showed Delphi had light damage on the front of your Audi SQ5 2014. The unit was waiting to turn left when he struck another vehicle.

The vehicle Delphi did not circulate on autopilot at the time, the company spokeswoman Kristen Kinley said.

Other companies whose cars are authorized for testing The Associated Press he had no accidents said. Overall, 48 vehicles have permits for test drives on state highways.

Google is prominent because it has equipped 23 vans Lexus with technology that allows them to dispense with the human driver.

When asked last week if their vehicles were involved in three accidents, Google acknowledged “some minor nature, slightly damaged, no injuries to date caused by human error and lack of human attention.”

On Monday, Urmson posted on the Internet a more comprehensive report of accidents dating back to the origins of the program in 2009.

Authorities in California had reported a total of four accidents since September, without elaborate on the nature or severity, arguing that a current state law requires a long time to collision reports are confidential.

 

Source: AP