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Google Driverless Cars

US transport official warns accidents are inevitable following Google car crash

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By John Glenday, Reporter

March 14, 2016 | 2 min read

A US transport official has brushed aside public concerns surrounding the introduction of driverless cars; after one of its test vehicles was involved in a collision with a bus.

Speaking to the BBC Anthony Foxx said that the incident wan ‘not a surprise’ and that no emerging technology could ever attain ‘perfection’.

Google’s AI system has been blamed directly for the low impact crash which dented the bumper of a vehicle but left no one harmed – although engineers insist that the incident provides valuable data to tinker their algorithms to reduce the likelihood of a repeat occurrence.

Foxx said: “It's not a surprise that at some point there would be a crash of any technology that's on the road.

"But I would challenge one to look at the number of crashes that occurred on the same day that were the result of human behaviour."

"I think the question here isn't comparing the automated car against perfection, I think it's a relative comparison to what we have now on the roads which is you and I, and our eyeballs, and our brains."

Brushing aside the incident Foxx vowed to press ahead with the roll-out of the technology with seven cities; Austin, Columbus, Denver, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Portland and San Francisco all in competing for $40m in Federal funding for ‘smart’ technologies.

Such vehicles are expected to appear on UK motorways at some point next year.

Google Driverless Cars

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