Directly out of GoogleX, the Google autonomous vehicle (AV) is a leader in the wave of self-driving cars. With innovation from Tesla, Cadillac, and many retail car manufacturers, such a product has even been connected to Apple.
The entire industry, thus far, has been deemed “not ready.”
The Google AV has logged over 1.7 million miles and only taken part of 11 accidents. With the exception of the accident this past month, the car was considered not responsible for any of them. Statistically speaking, the AV is a safer driver than the average human.
Humans cause and fall victim to thousands of car accidents every day, 180 of which will lead to injury in Ontario alone; as such human error is barely even noted in the daily news, but every scratch on the Google AV the media and public will scrutinize in great detail.
Valentine’s Day 2016 marked the first accident for which the Google AV has been directly held responsible. It was travelling at a sluggish 2 mph, manoeuvring around some obstacles in a wide lane when it decided to merge back into the centre and struck a municipal bus passing by at 15 mph.
Both the car and the safety driver detected the bus and believed it would slow and yield for the AV to complete its actions. Afterwards, the company stated that the car’s software was reviewed and adjusted for this incident along with thousands of other similar variations to “deeply understand that buses (and other large vehicles) are less likely to yield to us.”
Contradictory to belief, this is the beauty of the Google AV. For every tiny accident or near accident of experience, from any of its fleet of cars, the program is tweaked to avoid a repeat in the future. This is a level of continuous improvement that cannot be matched by humans who decline in driving ability over time.
The car also contains a precise GPS system, radars to keep track of distance in the front and rear, a sensor above the car constantly rotating, and a camera to detect road signs. The overwhelming amount of information is cross checked and then used to produce a complete landscape of every pedestrian, cyclist, vehicle, and obstacle in its vicinity. There are no blind spots. The AV has a level of attention to detail that is unmatched by the typical human listening to the radio.
Indeed, this past incident demonstrates that Google AV does not yet possess the greatest decision making. Also, it cannot function in a foreign environment or legally drive on a public road by itself. These limitations will not be around forever though; they are merely obstacles that provide room for improvement. Every accident and near accident in the future will provide more and more room for the AV to grow.
The Google AV is ready for society; we just have to give it a chance.
Leave a Reply