Google Reluctantly Reveals Driverless Car Crash Stats
Following pressure from a number of groups, including Consumer Watchdog, Google said it would issue regular reports offering some details of crashes involving its driverless cars.
Google released its first of what it said would be monthly reports on a website dedicated to the driverless car project. Included in the report is a synopsis written by Google of the twelve accidents since it began testing the robot cars in 2009.
“We now know a few more details of what happened,” said John M. Simpson, Consumer Watchdog’s Privacy Project director. “The problem is that it’s Google’s version and they want us to take their word for it.”
Ouch.
Consumer Watchdog said the Internet giant must release official accident reports that include not only the Internet giant’s version of what happened, but what the other drivers and any witnesses say. From a broader perspective, crash reports are essential to understanding how the robot cars interact with human drivers, which likely will be the biggest challenge the vehicles will face.
One thing we do know: In most of the crashes the Google robot cars were rear-ended. That could mean that the vehicles tend to stop more quickly than human drivers expect. Another interesting fact learned from the report was that in two of the crashes the human driver assumed control as it was happening. More details are necessary to understand what happens when human drivers take control.
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