Last month, the Google Car had its first minor accident, but according to the US Transport Secretary Anthony Foxx, it was inevitable.
Speaking to the BBC at the SXSW festival this week, Foxx said that accident was 'not a surprise', and that it was part of the ongoing process of improving autonomous technology.
"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 behavior,” Foxx told the BBC.
“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.”
The accident
The accident itself took place last month and only caused minor damage to the modified, autonomous Lexus Google uses to test it systems - probably because it took place at 3.2km/h. However, the crash marked the first time the Google Car has made a mistake - and the way it happened is pretty interesting.
According to reports, the Google Car's AI *and* test driver both wrongly assumed a bus was about to let them out of a junction. Significantly, the crash shows that the biggest and most difficult factor AI cars will have to face is us. While often perfect in controlled conditions, autonomous cars will need to learn how to interact with human drivers - and to do that they need to be out on the road will real people.
Secretary Foxx himself is one of the people spearheading plans to do just that in the US. Obama administration has already pledged a huge US$4bn to the cause, and cites the standardisation of autonomous systems between manufacturers a major priority.
-1.jpg&w=100&c=1&s=0)
.png&w=100&c=1&s=0)
