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Google Releases Report On Autonomous Vehicle Accidents

Posted by Soulskill on from the still-waiting-on-squirrel-death-count dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Back in May, a report from the Associated Press pieced together information on car accidents that involved autonomous vehicles. Google, the company testing the most self-driving cars on public roads right now, said the automation technology was not at fault in any of the accidents. However, they took criticism for declining to provide any detail. Now, they've changed that stance, releasing specifics on all of the accidents involving their autonomous cars. They set up a new website for releasing monthly reports. According to their first report (PDF), there have been 12 accidents since 2010. The vast majority of them involved another car rear-ending the Google car while waiting at a stop sign/light. There was one incident where another car rolled a stop sign, one in which another car veered into the AV's lane, and one incident where a Google employee driving the car in manual mode rear-ended another car. None of the accidents resulted in an injury.

14 of 74 comments (clear)

  1. So what you're saying is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    All the accidents... Were causing by HUMANS and not by the machine.
    Can't wait until we get rid of the stupid monkeys behind the wheel...

    1. Re:So what you're saying is... by sunking2 · · Score: 2

      That sounds like a fun life. We'd all eat better if we just took specially designed intravenous tubes of food also.

    2. Re:So what you're saying is... by mrsquid0 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most driving is not fun. It is tedious and frustrating. How many people can honestly say that they enjoy their daily commute or look forward to driving Jr to and from hockey practice? If all driving was like traveling the Sea to Sky Highway on a light traffic day then self-driving cars would be removing something fun from life. But, in the real world, self-driving cars will alleviate one of the most boring tasks that many people face.

      --
      Just because you are paranoid does not mean that no-one is out to get you.
    3. Re:So what you're saying is... by amRadioHed · · Score: 2

      That makes no sense at all. Eating is rarely stressful, tedious, or dangerous to other people, and commuting is rarely pleasurable. Where's the connection you're unsuccessfully attempting to make?

      --
      We hope your rules and wisdom choke you / Now we are one in everlasting peace
    4. Re:So what you're saying is... by Wycliffe · · Score: 2

      Reply is that, just like driving, nobody REALLY wants that because oftentimes (not always, OBVIOUSLY) driving is not an act of utility, but a thing of passion and pleasure, just like eating. Or motorcycle riding. Or shooting firearms. Or shooting fireworks.

      I would venture to say that 90%+ of miles driven in a given day are the "daily grind" type not the pleasure type.
      If we're talking about driving within 25 miles of a major city then we are approaching 100%.
      Sure, some people enjoy driving out in the country on backroads or some scenic road but that's a very small percentage.
      If/When we get self-driving cars then non-self driving cars will probably go the same way as horses. They become
      a hobby that people do on occasion for fun but rarely for practical purposes.

    5. Re:So what you're saying is... by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 2

      "It's not as much fun" is a pretty tepid argument against self-driving cars. "Of course they'll be better in every other way. But think of the fun!" Just as there are places you can go ride horses today, there will be places where you can go drive a car.

    6. Re:So what you're saying is... by michelcolman · · Score: 2

      Yes, and if you read the reports, I noticed a few where technically the autonomous car may not have been "at fault" (legally) but the car did something that normal drivers would not expect and this resulted in the accident.

      - December 2012: rear-ended at approx. 20-25 mph while driving past a disabled vehicle and emergency vehicles, which were stationary on the shoulder. In other words, the road was clear, but there were some emergency vehicles on the shoulder, so the car needlessly slowed down to a ridiculously low speed and got rear-ended by a human driver who did not expect this.

      - Feburary 2015: a car rolled through a stop sign and hit the rear quarter panel of the Google car. Prior to the collision, the Google car had applied the brakes in response to the detection of the other vehicle. I don't have the exact data, but could it be that the human rolling through the stop sign had judged that he would be able to pass behind the Google car, but hit it because the Google car braked unexpectedly?

      - April 2015: Google car starts rolling a bit to get a better view before making right turn on red, then stops again for approaching traffic. Reminds me of an accident I almost had one day behind a human driver who started to move forward and then stopped again for traffic that was still way out, while the two of us could have easily passed. I was looking to the left, judging that I could easily follow the car ahead with plenty of time for the approaching traffic, and only noticed in the nick of time that the idiot in front had actually stopped. His overly cautious behaviour almost caused a crash in which I officially would have been to blame.

      So basically, it looks like the Google cars are driving like typical inexperienced, nervous and scared drivers who brake for all sorts of things and cause others to "cause" accidents. Which is only be be expected, really. It will be some time before they really become as fluent as human drivers.

  2. typical human-type reports by turkeydance · · Score: 3, Funny

    NEVER your fault. it's the other guy.

  3. Getting rid of some of these accidents is hard by Cassini2 · · Score: 2

    I do a great deal of driving. About once a week, someone tries an unsafe lane-change with me opposite. Yesterday, someone attempted to change lanes with me directly beside them. No turn signals or anything. As far as I could figure out, the lady had no clue she had even done a lane change.

    It is really hard to detect, react, and prevent someone trying to lane change on top of you, or to prevent someone from rear-ending you. I really hope someone figures out something better than what we have right now.

    1. Re:Getting rid of some of these accidents is hard by PvtVoid · · Score: 2

      I really hope someone figures out something better than what we have right now.

      I have an idea: autonomous cars. They would prevent all of these things.

    2. Re:Getting rid of some of these accidents is hard by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 2

      I have an idea: autonomous cars. They would prevent all of these things.

      You don't even need fully autonomous cars. There are many cars on the road today that can prevent both rear ending the car in front of you, and inadvertent lane changes. My wife's Tesla does both of these things, although I have no personal experience with these features, since she won't let me drive it.

    3. Re:Getting rid of some of these accidents is hard by fustakrakich · · Score: 4, Funny

      I am forced to drive assuming others don't see me.

      I am forced to drive assuming others are trying to run me down. It's better if they don't see me.

      --
      “He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
  4. I'm waiting for the equilibrium rage. by Hussman32 · · Score: 2

    At some point, there will be a significant fraction of autonomous vehicles along with human drivers. The AVs will drive the speed limit, stop at stop signs, and in general perform as the model driver would. The problem is few of the human drivers perform this way, most of us cruise at 5-10 mph over the speed limit, roll through stops, and change lanes without signalling (well, I always signal at least).

    I can only imagine the uptick in accidents because of the frustrated drivers waiting on the model AVs. Those will be interesting times.

    --
    "Who are you?" "No one of consequence." "I must know." "Get used to disappointment."
    1. Re:I'm waiting for the equilibrium rage. by jfengel · · Score: 2

      Ironically, once we get past that point, we can actually do away with all of the stop signs. They exist only for humans, who have limited reaction times and can only see line-of-sight. The computers will be able to know where all of the other cars are (at least, the one with transponders). They'll signal, but they'll do it in a far more meaningful way than just a blinky-blinky light.

      They can probably even go considerably faster than the current speed limits, safely. But they probably won't have to, since the those 5-10 mph are rarely big enough to make a significant difference in your arrival time. The only times when it would really matter is when you're making very long trips, and then we'd want to take into account the significant additional fuel costs of driving that much (compared to just leaving a little sooner).