Remember when, in a previous blog post, Google maintained that their self-driving cars were safe? Remember when they argued that the accidents in which their cars were involved (many of which were rear-ended) were not through the fault of their car?
It turns out there is a first time for everything. Just last week, Google reported that their car had been involved in its first accident causing an injury. The car was rear-ended.
The car involved was a Lexus SUV, which used Google sensors and cameras, and had Google employees as its driver and passengers. The passengers suffered from whiplash, and the driver of the vehicle who rear-ended the Google car complained about neck and back pain.
The head of Google’s self-driving car program, Chris Urmson, wrote that his SUVs “are being hit surprisingly often” by distracted drivers, perhaps people looking at their phones.
“The clear theme is human error and inattention,” Urmson says. “We’ll take all this as a signal that we’re starting to compare favourably with human drivers.”
On the other hand, it has been found that Google vehicles tend to stop more quickly than human drivers expect.
When assessing damages, the degree of injury and causation are always taken into account. If an automobile maker, like Google, can demonstrate that an accident is not a direct result of the fault of its car, then the fault of the driver and perhaps other factors will be taken into consideration. If a driver is present (or merely someone in the front seat of the car, as in the present scenario), the driver may be held liable. The driver of any other car involved can be held responsible too. But what happens when a car has no driver? It could be that fault will be apportioned between the test engineer of the car or the manufacturer itself. It will be incumbent upon the courts to determine who is at fault when a driverless car is at play. Speak to a lawyer to understand your rights by booking a free consultation or calling 1-855-446-7765 for immediate assistance. For more information, visit our accident section.
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