Google Chris Urmson

Google says self-driving cars have logged 1.7m miles with 11 minor accidents

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By Minda Smiley, Reporter

May 11, 2015 | 2 min read

Google has stated that in the six years since its self-driving cars have hit the road, its more than 20 self-driving vehicles and team of safety drivers have driven 1.7 million miles manually and autonomously and have experienced 11 minor accidents with no injuries.

In a post on Medium called ‘The View from the Front Seat of the Google Self-Driving Car’ by Chris Urmson, director of Google’s self-driving car program, he stated that not once have the self-driving cars been the cause of any of the accidents.

Urmson said that the cars have been hit from behind seven times and have been side-swiped a couple of times.

He also noted that they’ve seen more accidents per mile on city streets than on freeways.

Throughout the post, he outlined different mistakes the Google cars have witnessed other drivers make on the road in order to illustrate the challenges that drivers face every day and how self-driving vehicles can help combat some of these problems.

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