Self-driving Google car causes accident

A self-driving car from Google was partly responsible for a collision with a bus on February 14, it became known Monday. The incident took place on El Camino Real, a busy street in Mountain View, where two rows of cars often drive on the right side of the road.

The bus accident happened a few weeks after Google modified the software to be less ‘tidy’. In a response to Engadget, the company explains why the accident between the Lexus RX450h and the bus could happen, namely because all three drivers, in this case the bus driver, used the software of the self-driving car and the co-driver in the self-driving car. , assuming the other would wait. Google admits it was partly wrong and that the accident is a ‘normal part of driving’. In the meantime, Google has already adapted the software; it now assumes that buses and other large trucks are ‘less likely to give way’.

There are many traffic lights on El Camino Real and previously a Google car always stayed neatly in the middle, even to turn right. In that case, the car drives according to the traffic rules, but causes a lot of annoyance. Cars that want to turn right drive as right as possible so that they don’t hold up other cars. In this case, the Google car kept to the right, but encountered sandbags lying in front of a street gully. The car therefore had to stop. After the car had waited for a few other vehicles to pass, the software figured out that it could be inserted again between the normal flow of cars.

The car detected an oncoming bus, but predicted that it would yield right of way, as the car had already started the maneuver. In the end, the car collided with the side of the bus at about three kilometers per hour, which was traveling at about 25 kilometers per hour. The compulsory co-driver also assumed that the bus would stop. So which didn’t happen. It resulted in damage to the left front bumper, left front wheel and a sensor.

By adapting the software to treat larger vehicles differently, Google hopes the software will better estimate these types of situations in the future.

El Camino Real Intersection with Castro St. in Mountain View, California