Google Self-Driving Car at Fault in Minor Bus Crash

Google'south cocky-driving cars accept been involved in fender benders in the past, but have always been accounted the innocent party. Only it turns out, the Web giant'south democratic vehicles aren't actually perfect.

Google on Feb. 23 filed a report with the California Department of Motor Vehicles revealing that one of its autonomous vehicles—a cocky-driving Lexus—recently struck the side of a passing autobus. The incident occurred February. 14 on El Camino Real, a six-lane highway in Google's hometown of Mountain View, Calif., after the vehicle, driving in autonomous mode, pulled toward a right-manus curb to prepare for a correct turn.

Later pulling towards the right, the vehicle "detected sandbags near a storm drain blocking its path, then it needed to come to a stop," according to an accelerate copy of Google'south February self-driving monthly report, provided to PCMag on Monday. "After waiting for some other vehicles to pass, our vehicle, withal in autonomous mode, began line-fishing back toward the middle of the lane at effectually ii mph — and fabricated contact with the side of a passing bus traveling at 15 mph. Our car had detected the approaching coach, but predicted that it would yield to the states because nosotros were ahead of it."

Google said its test driver, who had been watching the motorbus in the mirror, also expected it to deadening or stop.

"We can imagine the double-decker driver causeless we were going to stay put," Google wrote. "Unfortunately, all these assumptions led us to the same spot in the lane at the same time. This type of misunderstanding happens between homo drivers on the road every day."

Google's car suffered some "body damage" to the left front fender, the left front cycle, and 1 of its commuter's side sensors, merely no injuries were reported.

Google said information technology "clearly" bears "some responsibility" for the crash — considering if its car hadn't moved, at that place wouldn't have been a collision. But the Web giant isn't taking all the blame.

"Our test driver believed the omnibus was going to slow or end to let us to merge into the traffic, and that in that location would be sufficient infinite to do that," the company said.

Google said it has reviewed the incident, and thousands of variations on it, in its simulator and made refinements to its self-driving car software to forbid a similar incident from happening over again.

"From now on, our cars volition more deeply understand that buses (and other large vehicles) are less likely to yield to u.s. than other types of vehicles, and we promise to handle situations similar this more gracefully in the future," Google wrote.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's expert on fettle and smart abode products. Instruction yoga for almost x years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fettle trackers, center rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, strength preparation machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart home devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, but to name a few.