Google Car (Photo : Reuters)
Google recently announced that it will release a newer version of its self-driving cars. However, along with this announcement, Google revealed that the project has been involved in 13 accidents since the company began testing its prototypes.
Google added that its project has already reached more than two million miles in test drives in the past six years. Additionally, the 13 reported accidents were instigated by other drivers and the main cause was not traced to Google's self-driving cars.
Google's recent report has opened up the argument whether autonomous cars can be legally allowed on public highways. While no accidents were directly caused by Google's autonomous cars, many were still skeptical about a computer's ability to make necessary decisions in order to prevent or avoid accidents.
Consumer Watchdog Privacy Project director John Simpson said, "Google is dribbling out bits of information in the hope to silence legitimate calls for full transparency. They are testing on public roads and the public has the right to know exactly what happened when something goes wrong."
According to Cheat Sheet, Consumer Watchdog also presented two significant problems about Google's self-driving cars. One is the car's automated response in handling extreme weather conditions and the other is the cars response to constant change in terms traffic conditions.
In response to this, Google said that it will release monthly reports about its self-driving cars including every bit of detail about any incident that its cars will be involved in the future.
According to Prague Post, Google's driverless cars are still far from perfect. However, Google has made a good job in convincing the public that all the accidents involving its self-driving cars were not because of the technology installed. If Google is to be believed, computers are far more proficient drivers than real human being.
