Google's Waymo Self-Driving Minivan Involved in Accident
Another self-driving vehicle has been involved in an accident.
This time it’s one of Waymo’s Chrysler Pacifica minivans in Chandler, Arizona after a Honda Civic crashed into it. According to ABC15, the Honda Civic was traveling eastbound on Chandler Boulevard when it swerved to avoid hitting a vehicle traveling northbound on Los Feliz Drive. The maneuver caused the Honda to end up continuing eastbound into the westbound lanes of Chandler Boulevard, striking the Waymo minivan.
The Waymo vehicle was in autonomous mode when the accident occurred, but there was also an operator behind the wheel who sustained minor injuries in the collision. According to the ABC15 news report, the Waymo minivan was not at fault.
SEE ALSO: Waymo Unveils Self-Driving Jaguar I-Pace for Premium Taxi Service
This is the second known self-driving crash in the Phoenix area in as many months. In March, an Uber self-driving vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe.
Right now: Pretty gnarly crash with an @Waymo van in Chandler, AZ. No visible injuries. pic.twitter.com/xBLYfDsQP7
— Matt Jaffee (@mattjaffee) May 4, 2018
[Source: ABC15]
Jason Siu began his career in automotive journalism in 2003 with Modified Magazine, a property previously held by VerticalScope. As the West Coast Editor, he played a pivotal role while also extending his expertise to Modified Luxury & Exotics and Modified Mustangs. Beyond his editorial work, Jason authored two notable Cartech books. His tenure at AutoGuide.com saw him immersed in the daily news cycle, yet his passion for hands-on evaluation led him to focus on testing and product reviews, offering well-rounded recommendations to AutoGuide readers. Currently, as the Content Director for VerticalScope, Jason spearheads the content strategy for an array of online publications, a role that has him at the helm of ensuring quality and consistency across the board.
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So lets sensationalize this then. "Another" self driving vehicle involved in an accident, makes it sound like there have been huge numbers of self driving car accidents. So that's what two in the last how many years that these cars have been on the roads?? Sure its the second incident in two months, but prior to that no a whole lot and those have been cars driven by humans driven into the self driving cars. Self driving cars are way safer than human driven cars, yet we have to report in this negative descriptive manner, disregarding the facts to report negatively. The price of progress (this is the progress that will save lives, reduce congestion, improve mobility for all and reduce pollution and fossil fuel use) seems to be overcoming the naysayers. Meanwhile human drivers have killed about 6000 in the same 2 month time period in the US alone....
the mental masturbation of self driving vehicles fits right into the all too common parking and lane centering aps that the over cautious nit wits are currently agog over... the new drivers are getting less to do and never learning how to really control their vehicle... automoronic is more the case... self driving cars are far from actually being allowed out on the road without a nanny sitting in close proximity to catch the wheel or brake when the robot brain fails to identify the pedestrian or bicyclist and mows them down... there is surely a case here for luddite interaction by destroying the hated self driving crap...