A Google self-driving car that was testing self-driving technology to be featured in Google’s upcoming “koala car” almost got into an accident with a rival self-driving Audi from the company Delphi Automotive. Delphi Automotive said that they had to take appropriate action after reportedly getting cut off by the Google self-driving car.
THE FIRST OF ITS KIND
This close call between Google and Delphi is the first ever incident that involved two separate self-driving cars.
The new development comes following a report from Google in May, revealing its own group of cars as having had 11 minor accidents since the program began in 2009. The director of this program, Chris Urmson, noted that not one self-driving car was the direct cause of an accident. He also said that many of these accidents involved the car being rear ended by another vehicle.
minor accidents COMMON AMONG SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES
This is clearly quite common among companies with self-driving vehicles. Delphi Automotive, a self-driving car startup, reported that they had an accident with one of their own cars in October of 2014. The accident report showed that it was broadsided by another car while it was waiting to make a left turn. However, the Delphi Automotive car was not actually in self-driving mode at the time of the accident. Under California law, it was still required to report the accident.
As of May 2014, there were a total of seven companies that held testing permits in the state. This allowed them to operate a total of 48 self-driving vehicles. None of the other five companies has reported any accidents with its cars.
KOALA cars ARE GOING TO BE EVERYWHERE
Also on Thursday, Google announced that its self-driving cars, which it nicknamed Koala cars, are going to be taking to public roads soon. The company states that they are designed to work without pedals or a steering wheel. During the current phase they will have safety drivers in the car with a removable steering wheel, accelerator pedals and a brake pedal. These features allow the safety driver to take over driving if needed. The car’s speed is capped at 25 mph, and it will use the same software that the Lexus uses.
