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Google car involved in an accident resulting in injuries for the first time

Self-Driving Car Passengers Injured in Rear-End AccidentA few days ago, one of Google’s self-driving cars was struck from behind by another vehicle while on a test run in the tech giant’s home city of Mountain View CA. Three Google employees were on board at the time of the accident, and all suffered of minor whiplash. The driver of the other vehicle also complained of neck and back pain.

According to Google, this was only the 14th accident experienced by their self-driving cars in the course of 6 years and 1.9 million miles of testing. All of these accidents were caused by other drivers, and 11 of them were rear-end accidents. The only time a Google car is known to have caused an accident, it was not actually in self-driving mode. An employee had turned off the self-driving feature in order to run an errand, and by human error that employee caused an accident in 2011.

Other People a Danger for Even the Safest Drivers

According to representatives from Google, the take-away from this accident is that although the self-driving car technology is working extremely well in allowing the Google vehicles to safely navigate crowded streets, “human error and inattention” on the part of other drivers still presents a risk.

This is of course similar to what any driver experiences while on the road—no matter how carefully and safely you drive, you cannot control what other motorists do. While other drivers’ errors could expose you to serious injury, at least you will know that you can hold them liable for those errors and for your injury via a personal injury claim.

Could Honking Help?

Google’s self-driving car team is brainstorming ideas of how they might prevent future rear-end accidents and other incidents caused by distracted drivers in traffic around self-driving cars. One option might be honking or creating some other type of alert signal when the sensors and cameras show another car is getting too close.

Would this tactic have helped in the most recent rear-end car accident case?

Probably not.

According to a report filed with the California DMV, the Google car was third in a line of cars traveling about 15 mph approaching a green light. The first car slowed to a stop in order to avoid blocking the intersection. The second car and the Google car also stopped. About a second later, the fourth car in line rear-ended the Google car. Sensors on the Google car showed that the car was traveling at 17 mph and did not brake before the accident.

So the question is, would honking or making some other sound have been sufficient to prevent the rear-end collision? Even if the driver had understood what the honk meant, it would still take the average person 0.7 seconds to perceive the threat and then some further time to stomp on the brakes and stop the car.

As Google representatives also noted, honking every time a car got too close would also quickly prove irritating to other drivers in heavy traffic. The company’s desire to prevent every possible car accident scenario is noble but perhaps not practical—at least until every driver is in a self-driving car.