Waymo driverless car injures cyclist as truck obscures its view

A DRIVERLESS car has injured a cyclist in San Francisco in the latest incident involving an autonomous vehicle.

Operated by Waymo, the driverless car division of Google’s parent company Alphabet, it drove into a cyclist who suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to San Francisco police.

The collision came after it failed to notice the cyclist, travelling behind a large truck that obstructed its view.

It braked after noticing the cyclist but too late to avoid hitting the person. Paramedics arrived at the scene but said the cyclist did not need a hospital visit.

The incident is being reviewed by police and California’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

Rival driverless car company Cruise, which had also been operating in San Francisco, has suspended all trials of its technology after a series of incidents, including one in which it dragged a female pedestrian under its wheels. Waymo’s expansion of testing has been relatively incident-free but Cruise’s problems have led to calls to suspend or slow down tests of driverless car technology in the city.

Waymo said it had reported the case to the police.

“The Waymo vehicle was at a complete stop at a four-way intersection,” it said. “An oncoming large truck progressed through the intersection in our direction and then, at our turn to proceed, we moved into the intersection.

“The cyclist was occluded by the truck and quickly followed behind it, crossing into the Waymo vehicle’s path.

“When they became unoccluded, our vehicle applied heavy braking but was not able to avoid the collision. Waymo notified the police to the scene and the cyclist left on their own, to our knowledge reporting only minor scratches. We are making contact with relevant authorities surrounding this event.”

Driverless car companies have said that the technology is typically safer than human drivers and that their vehicles are less likely to crash.

However, the novel technology means that incidents involving driverless cars are highly scrutinised.

San Francisco became a hotbed for driverless car testing last year after granting Waymo and Cruise licences to run 24/7 operations without safety drivers in the city.

Before they were taken off the roads, Cruise cars hit emergency vehicles and caused multiple traffic jams.

The company is being investigated by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission over the incidents.

‘Our vehicle applied heavy braking but was not able to avoid the collision. The cyclist had only scratches’