Google Self-Driving SUV Crashes Into City Bus Near Headquarters
MOUNTAIN VIEW (CBS SF) -- One of Google's self-driving SUVs crashed into a city bus a few miles from its Mountain View headquarters.
The accident happened on Valentine's Day according to an accident report filed by Google with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
An autonomous Google Lexus SUV (Google AV) traveling eastbound on El Camino Real was trying to maneuver around some sand bags in its path when it crashed into the side of a passing bus. The bus was traveling about 15 mph at the time of impact.
The test driver inside the SUV saw the bus approaching but "believed it would stop or slow to allow the Google AV to pass," according to the report.
The right front fender of the SUV was damaged, along with the wheel and its driver's-side sensors.
There were no injuries.
This is the second crash Google has reported to the DMV this year.
So far, there have been more than a dozen accidents involving the Mountain-View based company's self-driving cars. In most cases the Google AV's were rear-ended or side-swiped by other cars.
Google has been testing a fleet of modified SUVs and prototype cars on the streets of Mountain View, Austin, TX, and Kirkland, WA as part of its Self-Driving Car Project. There are safety drivers inside the cars for now, but the company's goal is for the vehicles to become fully self-driving.
