Google's car accident is a good sign of technology development.

As you know, on February 14, the Google Gen-2 (Lexus) unmanned vehicle first got into an accident when it collided with a bus while driving at a speed of 3 km / h. This is the first accident that occurred due to the fault of the computer. Google has partially pleaded guilty.

What actually happened can be seen from the official report of the incident . Additional details are in the monthly Google Robo Car Report.

The description of the emergency leads to some interesting thoughts. Apparently, the program Robo cars began to handle typical situations on the road, which are not described in the SDA.

Google reports that it has recently started testing new behaviors. In this case, turn right at the red light from the main street, where the far right lane is extended. In such a situation, the usual practice is that drivers turn an extended lane into a double one, putting the cars in two rows. In this case, the right row is pressed against the curb.
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According to the standard program of the car, only one lane would be available, so the first stopped car would block all the others from turning to the right, which would be very unpleasant.

So, the developers of Google decided to implement the scenario of the subjective “expansion” of the rules in accordance with common practice, so that the unmanned car also clung to the curb in the extended band.

In the case of the last incident, the car unexpectedly found that sandbags blocking the drain of the storm sewer were blocking the way. Then he decided to go back to the left lane. There in the stream just went the bus.

The program decided that the bus as a respectable driver slowed down slightly, giving way to the lane. But he did not, and the unmanned machine collided with him at very low speed.

Perhaps the program could have better solved the problem due to a faster reaction and better prediction of the bus driver’s intentions. Surely, over time, she learns how to do it. In any case, this is an example of how the situation on the road is resolved by understanding the intentions of another driver. The rules do not have the concept of “pouring into the stream” and, of course, it does not indicate that the one who “pours” into it must give way. The Google car identified this on its own and did not stand in its right lane forever. This is a clear sign of progress in the development of technology. Of course, at first there will be mistakes, this cannot be avoided. Robo cars will have to show aggression in some situations, otherwise they will not survive on the roads.

It is not entirely clear why in the last incident the robotic car did not cancel its decision when it became convinced that the bus did not intend to give in, because the description of the accident indicated that Lexus had touched its side.

Google Report on unmanned vehicles for February 2016


Google Robot Car Accident