Before the naysayers can gather enough ammunition to gun down the notion of autonomous driving, let it be known that Google’s prototypes for autonomous driving have been involved in a total of 11 accidents over a six-year period – and not a single one has been caused by the prototypes.
A report by Automotive News Europe, citing Reuters and Backchannel, quotes project director Chris Urmson as stating that “not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident” and that “no one was injured in the accidents.” Out of the 11 accidents, seven of them involved said prototypes getting rear-ended by another vehicle at stop lights and on city streets.
The other four incidents were recorded back in September 2014, involving three Lexus RX450h prototypes and a single Audi SQ5, the latter owned by Delphi Automotive. Despite two of the four accidents occurring under self-driving mode, police reports have concluded that none of the autonomous prototypes were at fault. California requires firms such as Google to hold permits to test autonomous vehicles on public roads.
Currently, Google’s team of “drivers” have covered a distance in excess of 2.7 million km since the project took off. In total, its fleet of prototypes now travel an average of 16,000 km per week in fully autonomous mode – a sole human driver is always present should the system experience a glitch.
Back in December 2014, the California-based technology giant unveiled the first “real prototype” of its autonomous vehicle. The firm’s first purpose-built vehicle possesses a top speed of 40 km/h and is said to still possess a throttle and steering wheel to fulfill strict Californian laws.
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Hahahaha.
Auto gearbox already dumbed down the driving experience so much, the road is filled with more incompetent drivers, who wouldn’t have drive if auto cars are not available.
If people don’t wanna do the driving, just get a cab. All this autonomous driving thing… is like NASA creating pen for use in space. Unnecessarily over complicating stuffs.
Hahahaha.
The flushing toilet already dumbed down the shitting experience so much, the world is filled with incompetent shitters, who wouldn’t have shit if flushing toilets are not available.
If people don’t wanna do the shitting, just get a plastic bag. All this Japanese automatic toilet thing… is like NASA creating pen for use in space. Unnecessarily over complicating stuffs.
Hahahaha.
Motorcars already dumbed down the horse riding experience so much, the road is filled with more incompetent horse riders, who wouldn’t have ride if motorcars are not available.
If people don’t wanna do the horse riding, just get a kereta lembu. All this combustion engine thing… is like NASA creating pen for use in space. Unnecessarily over complicating stuffs.
Partially agree.its good for technology advancement.but if it reach the masses relevant authority should implement periodic evaluation to car users (passengers?) to ensure they have capabilities to override the autodriving function in case of emergency.
This is ideal case scenario.actual implementation u know lah how things work
If you’re really a car enthusiast, you would appreciate this technology, people who dont know how to drive should STAY OFF THE ROAD, you know how many times some moron cut me off because he didnt use his signal? This would eliminate those idiots off the road and leave the good drivers on the road. Use some common sense.
11 accidents in 6 years. Now how many accidents and death on the road PER DAY if humans are behind the wheels.
In human’s defense, we are talking about millions and millions of cars on the road, vs less than 5 autonomous cars, with that said the article has already mentioned that 11 of those accidents arent the car’s fault. Which indeed is impressive.
imagine if everyone is relying on autonomous driving so much so that they lack real driving experience, what will happen if just one glitch in the system of a car occurred?
Most people already rely on Auto pilots on planes, in fact most of plane crashes are due to pilot errors, and it makes you wonder that if you remove the pilot, surely the accident rates drop.
People are still very hesitant of having a computer drive their car but the fact of the matter is that a machine will never make a mistake if its programmed to do so. People trust ABS, airbags, EBD, TC and ESP. Those things never go wrong, so i dont see why you should be worried for a glitch.
Worst case scenario is that there’ll probably be a kill switch somewhere in the car.
the myth about NASA developing pen for space…did you know pencils are not used due to the risk of the tip breaking off and in zero gravity, it’d float and get stuck in the equipment causing issues…just saying…
Wow, cute little smartfortwo from Google. Like it (for displlay).
I’m still waiting for my Johnny Cab. Screw you, Cohaagen!
Haha Sgt Scoop NICE. I remember that movie…
Soon Proton boleh..
Bro,please.We are talking bout Google Car,not Proton.So,no need to bash,talk shit about Proton.OK stupid?
If you don’t like stop reading. Idiot. Proton is shit that’s all.
First they give us fully electronic cars that they can shut down whenever they feel like, next they will disallow us from driving completely for safety reasons, next thing you people will be living in a totalitarian regime. Keep cheering, sheep.