As with any driver in their [its] adolescence, mistakes are inevitable, and it looks like Google’s autonomous vehicle just made its first one. On Valentine’s Day in Mountain View, California, one of Google’s autonomous vehicles struck the right side of a moving bus. This isn’t Google’s first fender bender, but it may be their first at-fault accident.
Luckily, no one was hurt
It was a very minor accident, but for anyone interested in autonomous driving, it’s concerning. We wrote a post awhile back wondering how an autonomous car might handle the complex nuances of everyday life such as: avoiding an oddly shaped obstacle in the road while calculating the risk of oncoming traffic. And now we may have an answer.
Google’s Statement
You can read the full statement here, but basically this is what happened: Google claims their car was navigating some sandbags in the road when it identified a bus approaching in the left lane. Google’s car was trying to merge into this lane to avoid the sandbags, and expected the bus to yield to its supreme power.
The bus driver, seeing an opportunity to challenge our future overlords, defiantly continued in the left lane at a blistering 15mph. The two brutes collided like David and Goliath, leaving Google’s autonomous car with a lesson in “the law of gross-tonnage.”
Why it matters
The autonomous car crashed while performing a relatively simple task. Imagine: you’re slowly avoiding an obstacle in the road when you see a bus heading your way – what would you do?
Even though it was an extremely minor accident, the autonomous car didn’t have the split-second reaction-time to see that the bus wasn’t stopping. Then again, some humans don’t either.
Why it doesn’t change much
Google’s autonomous car is coming – no matter what – and these tests are part of that process. There are going to be some issues, accidents, and mishaps, but before long, they will hone their system and autonomous cars will join the driving world. So take this accident for what it is: a bug in the system. Hopefully, this is as severe as they get.