It was just a matter of time: This is Google’s first self-driving car crash - Polidicks

[release][h2]This is Google’s first self-driving car crash[/h2] [url=http://jalopnik.com/5828101/this-is-googles-first-self+driving-car-crash][b]//Source[/b] Jalopnik[/url] ______________________________ [img]http://fastcache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/2011/08/xlarge_googletop.jpg[/img] This photo of what looks like a minor case of Prius-on-Prius vehicular violence may actually be a piece of automotive history: the first accident caused by [url=http://jalopnik.com/5660478/video-googles-secret-driverless-cars-in-action]Google's self-driving car[/url]. Whose name should the cop write down on the ticket? [b][i]UPDATE![/b][/i] Sent in by a [i]Jalopnik[/i] tipster, the photos were snapped earlier this week near Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The Prius — recognizable as a Google self-driving prototype from the roof equipment that's smaller than a typical Google Streetview image collector — appears to have rear-ended another Prius. This is precisely why we're worried about self-driving cars. Perhaps the complicated set of lasers and imaging systems that Google chief autonomous car researcher Sebastian Thrun called "[url=http://www.ted.com/talks/sebastian_thrun_google_s_driverless_car.html]the perfect driving mechanism[/url]" thought it was just looking at its shadow. Earlier this year, Google [del]bought[/del] convinced the state legislature of Nevada to create a special license allowing self-driving cars on the state's freeways, and its been racking up hundreds of thousands of miles in California, [url=http://jalopnik.com/5661240/are-googles-driverless-cars-legal]where there's no law banning them[/url]. Yet Google has never answered the question of who's ultimately responsible for any accidents that happen while the software controls the vehicle. There's a driver in all of Google's tests who can take control, and probably gets the ticket in this case — but Google imagines these vehicles spreading far beyond its corporate campus. [img]http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/12/2011/08/google_01.jpg[/img] Google can't be hoping to have its software legally blamed for a slice of the traffic crashes that cost more than $160 billion a year in this country. Yet if the operators of Google's self-driving cars retain all legal responsibility, simply turning the system on would be seen in court as a sign they weren't paying attention. Already some of the more forward-thinking technologists have questioned whether autonomous vehicles should be smart enough to [url=http://cstv.uwaterloo.ca/2011/06/your-robot-co-driver.html]sacrifice its own passengers to save other people in an imminent crash[/url]. Aside from promising the worst of a "Blade Runner" future, such thought experiments illustrate why self-driving cars will require such a huge conceptual hurdle to catch on in the United States. The biggest battle in auto safety today involves keeping drivers focused on driving. Google's self-driving car seems like the ultimate distracted driving machine. [b][i]UPDATE:[/i][/b] The boys [url=http://www.businessinsider.com/googles-self-driving-cars-get-in-their-first-accident-2011-8]at Business Insider[/url] received the following quote from a Google spokesperson about the accident: "Safety is our top priority. One of our goals is to prevent fender-benders like this one, which occurred while a person was manually driving the car." Of course, how would we actually know whether it was being manually-driven at the time? Now that we've got confirmation that this was one of Google's self-driven cars, it's high time we got a closer look at the details of how they're trying to make it happen — and any evidence that this actually was being driven by a real, live human being. [b][i]UPDATE [url=http://jalopnik.com/2/]#2[/url]:[/b][/i] NBC's San Francisco station spoke with a woman who witnessed the crash and reported that in addition to the two Priuses, the crash [url=http://www.nbcbayarea.com/blogs/press-here/Google-Blames-Human-for-Robot-Car-Crash-126845683.html]also involved three other vehicles[/url]: [quote]Google's Prius struck another Prius, which then struck her Honda Accord that her brother was driving. That Accord then struck another Honda Accord, and the second Accord hit a separate, non-Google-owned Prius.[/quote] [i]Striking a car with enough force to trigger a four-car chain reaction suggests the Google car was moving at a decent clip. Google says its unable to provide us with a copy of any official accident report, but that may be the only way to know what happened for sure.[/i][/release] This can only mean one thing--Google cars are becoming self-aware... ready your tinfoil hats, people! [img]http://sae.tweek.us/static/images/emoticons/emot-tinfoil.gif[/img]

It only wanted love[i]![/i]

That's why it's a prototype you fucking hippies.

[QUOTE=Pretiacruento;31592735]This can only mean one thing--Google cars are becoming self-aware...[/QUOTE]Yeah, and they hate themselves. Bad move google, should've used another car than prius.

Google's self crashing car, now we don't even have to do it ourselves.

[quote]UPDATE: The boys at Business Insider received the following quote from a Google spokesperson about the accident: "Safety is our top priority. One of our goals is to prevent fender-benders like this one, which occurred while a person was manually driving the car."[/quote] Wasn't even the cars fault, the car was being manually driven at the time.

[QUOTE=Thor667;31592896]Wasn't even the cars fault, the car was being manually driven at the time.[/QUOTE] But that's what the data log said, which was made by none other than... the car itself [img]http://imgkk.com/i/__b6.gif[/img]

[QUOTE=fishyfish777;31592920]But that's what the data log said, which was made by none other than... the car itself [img]http://imgkk.com/i/__b6.gif[/img][/QUOTE] So this is how it begins.

Simple responses to the asshat who wrote this article. 1. it's a fucking prototype, it still needs further testing and improvement, as with any piece of machinery anyone has ever made. 2. Google should be held responsible for these accidents and ticketed because it's their fucking prototype and as such they're responsible for it. [editline]7th August 2011[/editline] [QUOTE=Thor667;31592896]Wasn't even the cars fault, the car was being manually driven at the time.[/QUOTE] wow even fucking better.

[quote]Already some of the more forward-thinking technologists have questioned whether autonomous vehicles should be smart enough to sacrifice its own passengers to save other people in an imminent crash.[/quote] I highly doubt the average consumer is gonna go for that.

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;31593260]I highly doubt the average consumer is gonna go for that.[/QUOTE] Yeah that's incredibly stupid. What's the point in swapping their lives for the others'?

[QUOTE=Cheese?;31593422]Yeah that's incredibly stupid. What's the point in swapping their lives for the others'?[/QUOTE] So you can pretend to be friends with someone you hate and have you car kill them!

It saw another Prius and tried to kill it. I'm ok with this

I guess you could say... ... the Prius really did [i]move forward.[/i]

I could have sworn it was late. Or maybe another crash. Hey at least no one can get hurt since there's no driver!

What if two "Sacrifice own passengers to help other car" vehicles crash into each other? Would the cars be considered defective if someone survived?

More effort Google. I'm expecting a model like from iRobot.

[QUOTE=Cheese?;31593422]Yeah that's incredibly stupid. What's the point in swapping their lives for the others'?[/QUOTE] For example if a single driver cargo truck computer steered the truck off the road to move out of way of a bus full of people.

[QUOTE=Thor667;31592896]Wasn't even the cars fault, the car was being manually driven at the time.[/QUOTE]I don't understand why this is even news then.

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;31593260]I highly doubt the average consumer is gonna go for that.[/QUOTE] There's a simple solution to that: Auto-ejecting seats. BRILLIANT!

Well I used my I, Robot joke last thread so I suppose it would be in bad taste to reuse it.

This article is acting like Google is some sort of evil menace for creating self driving cars. Very biased and dumb article. [editline]7th August 2011[/editline] That's not to mention that it's horribly misleading.

I'm more amused that there were 3 Prius and 2 Accords in the same place.

[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;31595061]I'm more amused that there were 3 Prius and 2 Accords in the same place.[/QUOTE] Well it is in California.

Google is acutally training prius's to wipe each other out to save us all from shitty cars

I mean, it was inevitable, right? Maybe it had a virtual beer.

A 4-car chain reaction crash composed entirely of Prii and Accords. Nice.

They have begun trying to reproduce.

Two Priuses and two Accords....[b]IRONY![/b]

I got the image of someone tricking the car into thinking it's about to crash by throwing something over the equipment and the car sacrifices it's passengers, with knives.