New Jersey motorists may be interested to know that representatives from Google admitted that one of its self-driving cars was partially to blame for an accident that took place on Feb. 14. The minor accident took place in Mountain View, California, and it involved a city bus and a Lexus 450 hybrid SUV that had Google’s technology installed. Just prior to the crash, the self-driving SUV was attempting to make a right hand turn when it had to get closer to the center of the road to avoid sand bags.
As the Google vehicle attempted to avoid the obstacle, it collided with the bus. It is believed that the driver of the Lexus thought that the bus would yield while the bus driver thought that the Lexus would yield to the bus. According to reports, the self-driving vehicle was traveling at 2 miles per hour at the time of the collision, and there were no injuries associated with the accident.
Google did acknowledge that if the car had stayed where it was, there likely wouldn’t have been a collision. In a statement, Google also said that it would refine the driving habits of its vehicles to take into account that larger vehicles would be less likely to yield. According to the company, self-driving cars have logged more than 1 million miles on the road.
Although it has been said by many observers that the widespread adoption of self-driving technology will greatly reduce the number of car accidents that result in serious injuries, that day has yet to arrive. In the meantime, accidents will continue to be caused by negligent drivers, and those who are injured as a result may want to have legal counsel assist in seeking compensation for their losses from the at-fault motorist.
