According to a report released by Google (PDF) this month, the company’s self-driving cars were involved in two human-error accidents in the month of June. In addition, Google’s funny little prototype self-driving cars hit the streets of Mountain View for the first time. The company says that so far, the two prototypes logging hours on public streets have not been involved in any accidents.
Google received some pressure from an advocacy group called Consumer Watchdog as well as the Associated Press in May, notably after the AP reported that there had been at least three collisions involving Google’s self-driving cars in the previous six months. More detail could not be obtained because of the DMV’s privacy rules surrounding accident reports, but Google vowed it would release a monthly report detailing any accidents involving the company’s self driving cars from then on.
The most recent report says that Google self-driving cars have only been involved in 14 accidents since they began roaming the streets in 2009. Ars covered the 13th accident earlier this month, when a Lexus outfitted with Google’s autonomous vehicle sensors was rear-ended by another, human-operated car. Both cars were going less than 1 mph.
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