http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...the-police-reports-are-not-being-made-public/
Eleven driverless vehicles have been involved in minor accidents on California roads over the past six years during testing, Google said Monday, stressing that none of its cars were at fault in any of the incidents.
The company made the admission after a reported from the Associated Press said two Google driverless cars, while controlled by computers, were involved in accidents since last fall when the state gave the company official permission to start testing the technology on public roads. Nobody was hurt in any of the crashes, Google said.
But in the wake of the accidents, the police reports were not made public in accordance with California law. Google did not release the reports either — a practice could hurt the very future of driverless cars that several technology companies are trying to build.
Proponents of self-driving cars argue that computer-driven vehicles can help improve automotive safety by reacting more quickly to oncoming dangers and keeping a better eye on the environment, reducing the risk of driver error. But the public lacks objective data about whether that’s true in practice or even potentially true.
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I understand that Google wants to put a positive light on these vehicles, but if they want people to have complete trust in the concept then they have to have complete transparency. Tell us when the vehicles are involved in accidents. Hiding the information only makes people skeptical, especially if, like me, you aren't a big believer in the first place.
Eleven driverless vehicles have been involved in minor accidents on California roads over the past six years during testing, Google said Monday, stressing that none of its cars were at fault in any of the incidents.
The company made the admission after a reported from the Associated Press said two Google driverless cars, while controlled by computers, were involved in accidents since last fall when the state gave the company official permission to start testing the technology on public roads. Nobody was hurt in any of the crashes, Google said.
But in the wake of the accidents, the police reports were not made public in accordance with California law. Google did not release the reports either — a practice could hurt the very future of driverless cars that several technology companies are trying to build.
Proponents of self-driving cars argue that computer-driven vehicles can help improve automotive safety by reacting more quickly to oncoming dangers and keeping a better eye on the environment, reducing the risk of driver error. But the public lacks objective data about whether that’s true in practice or even potentially true.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I understand that Google wants to put a positive light on these vehicles, but if they want people to have complete trust in the concept then they have to have complete transparency. Tell us when the vehicles are involved in accidents. Hiding the information only makes people skeptical, especially if, like me, you aren't a big believer in the first place.