Home Google self-driving car shakes fist at Palo Alto drivers

Google self-driving car shakes fist at Palo Alto drivers

Google has published its monthly report on the self-driving project, detailing any updates, advances, and accidents that have happened.

In the month of April, two accidents occurred involving the self-driving Lexuses. Both were minor incidents, which apparently stemmed from the other party hitting the self-driving car.

The first accident dinged one car’s side mirror, and happened while the Lexus SUV was stationary. The second involved the offending driver bumping into the side of the car, which – like any good teen-aged new driver – Google claims was not their fault.

Passengers in the self-driving cars were not harmed in the accidents.

See Also: Apple joins autonomous vehicle land rush in Silicon Valley

Google has been transparent about accidents for a few months, since news of several crashes emerged. They’ve even fessed  up about a recent accident by posting video, showing the self-driving car at fault during a crash with a bus.

It’s all Palo Alto’s fault

Despite the crashes, which number in the dozens now, Google insists that self-driving will lower the amount of crashes by over 50 percent. It claims that 94 percent of crashes are due to human error, which a fully autonomous world would fix.

Google is adding 100 more cars — Chrysler Pacifica minivans to be exact — to its fleet in the next year. Bringing variety to its self-driving project may give the company more understanding of how different sized cars should interact on the roads, which may lead to less scuffles.

The cars are tested in four locations: Kirkland, Washington; Mountain View, California; Phoenix, Arizona; and Austin, Texas. Both of the accidents were in Palo Alto, a 12-minute drive from Mountain View, where Google is headquartered.

The accidents might put some lawmakers off removing restrictions, but attitude towards self-driving cars has become less hostile in the last few months, as more investment comes in from traditional automakers.

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