Google Claims Self Driving Cars Are Safe And If You Subtract The Recent Crashes All Is Well

The head of Google Inc.'s self-driving car program said the company's test vehicles are very safe and noted recent accidents involving them were minor and actually the fault of other drivers, not Google technology.

Chris Urmson, speaking at an automated vehicle conference here, also said the laser and other sensing technology that Google is developing will enable its vehicles to see beyond the line of sight that human drivers have, and the technology is able to prevent the kind of situations in which the potential for accidents increases.

Google's self-driving cars "are learning the road," in the hours and hours of testing the company is doing," Urmson said.

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MDarringer - 7/22/2015 3:59:55 PM

0 Boost

That's like saying Takata airbags are safe if you ignore the parts that aren't. Other drivers are the CONTEXT of the Google technology.

TheSteve - 7/22/2015 4:19:54 PM

+3 Boost

According to Google, all the incidents were the fault of other human drivers, and not Google technology. If they are right, then they are in fact demonstrating their vehicles are safe.

We need more data about what's causing those human drivers to collide with Google's cars. It could be something as simple as a human driver becoming distracted by a weird-looking, in-the-news autonomous automobile, rather that safely operating their own vehicle. On the other hand, and much less likely, it might be a software algorithm that puts the Google-car into a no-win situation and causes it to get into an incident (e.g., sudden lane change directly in front of another vehicle, then sudden braking, creating the conditions for an unavoidable rear-end collision).

My second scenario is far-fetched, granted, but without us having sufficient details about each incident, we can't reasonably conclude anything.

Vette71 - 7/22/2015 4:50:50 PM

+1 Boost

Your second scenario could be close to what is happening. Do the Google cars act in ways that humans don't usually experience when they drive among other humans? We all anticipate what other drivers do based on our experience. The Google algorithms could be doing something different or the timing could be different. Would be nice if the humans involved in these accidents asked about that.

supermoto - 7/23/2015 2:07:21 PM

+2 Boost

None of the accidents were caused by the self-driving vehicles. None.

w222 - 7/23/2015 2:16:44 PM

+2 Boost

I'll take my chances with a self driving vehicle. Stats are overwhelmingly against human drivers, even with the limited trial data that we have.