Robo-car Rearended

Robo-cars are “hit surprisingly often” by distracted drivers.

17:43 20 July 2015

One of Google’s driverless cars have been rear-ended, sending passengers to the hospital. All the three employees who were riding in the autonomous vehicle on public roads in Mountain View, California, complained of whiplash after the car was hit by a Lexus SUV.

 

The head of the Google’s self-driving care program admitted in a blog post that the robo-cars are “hit surprisingly often” by distracted drivers.

 

"The clear theme is human error and inattention. We’ll take all this as a signal that we’re starting to compare favorably with human drivers," wrote Chris Urmson on his blog.

 

A recorded data of the crash was released by the company.

 

"As you can see from the video above, our braking was normal and natural, and the vehicle behind us had plenty of stopping distance — but it never decelerated," wrote Urmson.