Google’s Self-Driving Car, Manually Driven, In Fender-Bender Near Company HQ

That image appears to be the first crash involving one of Google’s self-driving cars. (The one on the right with the gear on top.) According to Jalopnik, it happened earlier this week near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Jalopnik speculates that Google’s Toyota Prius rear-ended another Prius. A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that […]

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That image appears to be the first crash involving one of Google’s self-driving cars. (The one on the right with the gear on top.)

According to Jalopnik, it happened earlier this week near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Jalopnik speculates that Google’s Toyota Prius rear-ended another Prius.

A Google spokesperson told Business Insider that the accident actually happened while a human was in control of the car:

Safety is our top priority. One of our goals is to prevent fender-benders like this one, which occurred while a person was manually driving the car.

Google’s experiment with self-driving cars first came to light late last year. We’ve speculated that they might be the perfect venue for local business ads.

Oh, and if you’re curious, there’s also been at least one report of a traffic violation involving these self-driving cars, too.


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About the author

Matt McGee
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Matt McGee joined Third Door Media as a writer/reporter/editor in September 2008. He served as Editor-In-Chief from January 2013 until his departure in July 2017. He can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee.

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