Google to update self-driving car accidents monthly

REUTERS

Google said it would give monthly updates of accidents involving its driverless cars.

The report for May showed Google cars had been involved in 12 accidents since the company first began testing in 2009, mostly involving rear-ending.

Google said a vehicle was rear-ended Thursday at a stoplight in California, bringing the count to 13 accidents.

“That could mean that the vehicles tend to stop more quickly than human drivers expect,” public interest group Consumer Watchdog said.

A Google spokeswoman said the conclusion was erroneous because most of the rear-end accidents occurred when the vehicle was stopped.

Consumer Watchdog called for more details on the accidents, including statements from witnesses and other drivers.

None of these accidents was caused by a fault with the car, Google said.

Google’s self-driving-car program director, Chris Urmson, said in May that the cars have been involved in 11 accidents. The accidents mostly involved Google’s self-driving Lexus RX450h sport utility vehicles.

Google is about to take its pod-like prototypes off the test track and on Mountain View, Calif., roads this summer. The company described the two-seater as “the world’s first fully self-driving vehicle.”

Built in Detroit by Roush Industries, the prototypes will be equipped with removable steering wheels, brake pedals and accelerator pedals so test engineers can “take over driving if needed,” Urmson said in May.