Google self-driving car hits a bus

One of Google's self-driving cars crashed into a
bus in California last month. There were no
injuries.

It is not the first time one of Google's famed self-
driving cars has been involved in a crash, but it
may be the first time it has caused one.
Google is to meet with California's Department of
Motor Vehicles (DMV) to discuss the incident, and
determine where the blame lies.
On 14 February the car, travelling at 2mph (3km/
h), pulled out in front of a public bus going 15mph
(24km/h).
The human in the Google vehicle reported that he
assumed the bus would slow down to let the car
out, and so he did not override the car's self-
driving computer.
The crash happened in Mountain View, near
Google's headquarters.
In a statement, Google said: "We clearly bear
some responsibility, because if our car hadn't
moved, there wouldn't have been a collision.
"That said, our test driver believed the bus was
going to slow or stop to allow us to merge into the
traffic, and that there would be sufficient space to
do that."
The company's self-driving cars have clocked up
well over a million miles across various states in
the US, and until now have only reported minor
"fender benders" - the American slang for a small
collision.
In all of those cases, other road users were to
blame.
Google releases a monthly report detailing the
testing of its self-driving technology.
Ahead of the February report's publication, due
Tuesday, a traffic incident filing was made public
by the DMV.
A setback
"The Google AV [autonomous vehicle] test driver
saw the bus approaching in the left side mirror
but believed the bus would stop or slow to allow
the Google AV to continue," the report read.
"Approximately three seconds later, as the Google
AV was re-entering the centre of the lane it made
contact with the side of the bus.
"The Google AV was operating in autonomous
mode and travelling at less than two mph, and
the bus was travelling at about 15mph at the time
of contact."
The car's movements were made more complex,
the report said, by the presence of sandbags on
the road.
Google said it had now refined its self-driving
algorithm.
"From now on, our cars will more deeply
understand that buses (and other large vehicles)
are less likely to yield to us than other types of
vehicles, and we hope to handle situations like
this more gracefully in the future."
If the DMV considers the Google car to be at fault
for the collision, it could be seen as a setback for
the company's ambitious autonomous vehicle
plans.
The bus crash came just four days after a legal
breakthrough for the self-driving project - the US
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
told Google it would likely give the self-driving
computer the same legal treatment as a human
driver.
That decision would pave the way for self-driving
cars without any typical controls, such as a
steering wheel or pedals.