Google has been running its self-driving car program since 2009. Since then, it has inspired other players like auto-makers Mercedes, Ford, Nissan and others to begin actively exploring ways in which mankind will move around in the future. Even then, how safe are self-driving cars? Google has been testing its self-driving fleet of 48 licensed cars comprising Toyota Priuses, Lexus SUVs and even Audis and thanks to a report by the Associated Press, we have feedback from the company on the safety conditions of those cars.
Google’s self-driving cars have been involved in a total of 11 accidents and Google blames all of those minor incidences not on its autonomous cars but on humans. The accidents have been as a result of drivers ramming into the backs of the cars writes Chris Urmson, director of Google’s self-driving car program on the blog Backchannel.
There are no extensive statistics available so it is hard to quantify the safety records of the self-driving cars using independent data hence the rate of about 0,6 accidents per every 100,000 miles can be disputed.
Interested in learning how Google’s autonomous cars work? The authoritative IEEE Spectrum or Google’s own YouTube channel would be a good place to start.
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