Google's self driving car gets involved in a fender bender (again)

By Matthew Griffin Future Transport 28th September 2016

Humans prove once again that we make lousy drivers but at least no robots were hurt in the crash

When, oh when oh when will these self-driving cars, with all their artificial intelligence smarts learn that we humans are dangerous!?

Earlier this week one of Google’s self-driving cars was involved in one of the worst autonomous vehicle accidents yet, when a driver ran a red light and collided with the passenger side door of the modified Lexus SUV.

The driver of the vehicle passed through a red light as one of Google’s fleet of autonomous Lexus SUVs passed through a green light on Friday afternoon. The collision, which occurred at the intersection between El Camino Rea and Phyllis Ave in Mountain View, California, caused the Google car’s airbags to be deployed, and caved in its front and rear right-side doors.

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Mountain View police said that no injuries were reported, but the Google car had to be towed away on a flatbed truck.

Google’s autonomous vehicles are no stranger to accidents, suffering multiple impacts with various vehicles. Mostly they’ve been rear-ended when either driving slowly or stationary at a junction, suffering minor damage. The side impact in this most recent accident is one of only a few that have caused major damage to the expensive test vehicles.

Google said that the car was in self-driving mode with a person sitting at the steering wheel. The Google car hit the brakes automatically on seeing the other car crossing the red light, followed by the human behind the wheel doing the same, but it wasn’t enough to prevent the collision.

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James Allen, who happened upon the crash, told KBCW: “I’ve never seen one in an accident and I see at least 30 to 40 a day. They’re very good cars, that’s why I was so shocked.”

A Google spokesperson told 9to5Google: “Our light was green for at least six seconds before our car entered the intersection. Thousands of crashes happen everyday on US roads, and red-light running is the leading cause of urban crashes in the US. Human error plays a role in 94% of these crashes, which is why we’re developing fully self-driving technology to make our roads safer.”

Google’s fleet of autonomous cars have covered over 2 million miles and has been involved in around two dozen accidents, with only one – a collision with a bus – being the fault of the self-driving car.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.