Google Stops Publishing Monthly Waymo Self-Driving Car Accident Reports
Google has not only changed the company behind its self-driving vehicles, but its accident-reporting methods. The newly-named Waymo has removed the monthly incident and accident reports page from its website.
A Waymo spokesperson stated, “We’ve replaced our PDF reports with a new blog and website that continues to give insights into our technology”. The accident reports page now redirects viewers to Waymo’s general website. The reports, however, will not be completely be disappearing. The reports will now be on the California Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) website and will detail, “safety-related disengages in the state and collisions we’ve experienced on the road”.
One California DMV spokesperson, Waymo is not technically required to publish the monthly reports. They are supposed to, however, report any accident involving a Waymo self-driving vehicle to the DMV.
This past summer, Google insisted that its vehicles were not at fault in any of the reported incidents. Chris Urmson, the former director of the Google’s self-driving vehicle program, stated this past May, “We’ve been hit from behind seven times, mainly at traffic lights but also on the freeway. We see more accidents per mile driven on city streets than on freeways; we were hit 8 times in many fewer miles of city driving.”
While Google appears to be getting along with California bureaucrats, Uber was recently forced to take its self-driving vehicles off of the road. Uber had started testing its self-driving cars before receiving an autonomous vehicles driving permit. California requires that self-driving vehicles be tested by the DMV before they go out on the road. Other companies have complied, however, Uber insisted that it did not need a permit, since the vehicles were not “fully” autonomous. One of the main reasons the vehicles did not receive a permit was because it had a difficult time handling bike lanes.
A Waymo spokesperson stated, “We’ve replaced our PDF reports with a new blog and website that continues to give insights into our technology”. The accident reports page now redirects viewers to Waymo’s general website. The reports, however, will not be completely be disappearing. The reports will now be on the California Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV) website and will detail, “safety-related disengages in the state and collisions we’ve experienced on the road”.
One California DMV spokesperson, Waymo is not technically required to publish the monthly reports. They are supposed to, however, report any accident involving a Waymo self-driving vehicle to the DMV.
This past summer, Google insisted that its vehicles were not at fault in any of the reported incidents. Chris Urmson, the former director of the Google’s self-driving vehicle program, stated this past May, “We’ve been hit from behind seven times, mainly at traffic lights but also on the freeway. We see more accidents per mile driven on city streets than on freeways; we were hit 8 times in many fewer miles of city driving.”
While Google appears to be getting along with California bureaucrats, Uber was recently forced to take its self-driving vehicles off of the road. Uber had started testing its self-driving cars before receiving an autonomous vehicles driving permit. California requires that self-driving vehicles be tested by the DMV before they go out on the road. Other companies have complied, however, Uber insisted that it did not need a permit, since the vehicles were not “fully” autonomous. One of the main reasons the vehicles did not receive a permit was because it had a difficult time handling bike lanes.
