Google’s self-driving prototypes have been tooling around on real roads for some time now, and like cars that are driven by people, they’ve had a few bumps and traffic incidents, but no one has gotten hurt. That’s all changed now, as the company reports one of its driverless vehicles has been involved in an accident that involved injuries for the first time.
The collision happened near Google’s home in Mountain View, CA, where 20 of its self-driving prototypes have been cruising around recently. In this case, the company’s Lexus SUV bearing sensors and cameras was hit from the back, Chris Urmson, head of Google’s self-driving car program,wrote in a blog post on Thursday, and three Google employees riding inside to monitor the test car complained of minor whiplash as a result.
They were checked out at a hospital and later cleared to go back to work after the July 1 collision, Google says, while the driver of the other car also complained of neck and back pain.
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The vehicle striking from the rear is usually deemed to be at fault.
ReplyDeleteThe injuries described sound similar to any sustained from a rear-end impact.
Why is this a big deal? They don't advertise their vehicle to be safer in accidents - just driverless....now if they can show that the lack of driver caused the accident, you'll have a newsworthy story!
Man has injuries from car accident.
ReplyDeleteCar is owned by Google.
Man is rich.
End of story.