Three Google Employees Suffered Minor Injuries in Accident
Self-driving cars are no longer a thing for the distant future. Google has been hard at work perfecting it as an art, but with that work comes concerns about how a Google self-driving car can work. These cars have been involved in accidents in the past when being tested out as prototypes, and this month it happened again. Google has recently made a blog post about a July 1st incident in Mountain View, CA. The Google self-driving car was stopped at a red light relatively close to the Google headquarters, when another vehicle rear-ended the prototype, a Lexus RX450h that had been equipped with special Google sensors and software. The three employees in the car were briefly hospitalized as a precaution for suffering minor whiplash, making this the first accident with a Google self-driving car where injuries were sustained.
Google Cars Have Had Several Accidents, But Not Been At Fault
With the Google self-driving car having been tested since 2009, accidents are no surprise. And considering that timespan, Google’s record with it seems less spotty – 14 accidents over a span of 6 years and one million test miles. Of these 14 accidents, the Google self-driving car has never actually been found at fault for any of the collisions. In fact, 11 of the 14 collisions fit the description of the most recent accident – a motorist rear-ending a Google self-driving car. It turns out the scariest part of being in a Google self-driving car are the other drivers on the road getting distracted!
Other Safety Concerns Are What’s Plaguing the Google Self-Driving Car
Google has said that by 2020, the technology for manufacturers to build self-driving cars will be more readily available. Hopefully that gives Google enough time to work out the kinks of their car, because even though it hasn’t been responsible for accidents, there are still a lot of steps before the Google self-driving car has been perfected as an option for all drivers. It still has difficulty navigating large and complicated parking lots, and has some problems with snow and rain. There are also issues with how the Google self-driving car can deal with unpredictable obstacles in the road. It’s not in the distant future anymore, but we still have a ways to go before Google self-driving cars are a mainstay on the road.
