Google's self-driving car has been involved in ANOTHER major accident
SELF-DRIVING Google car involved in worst collision to date during road testing in California.
Google is hoping to release its self-driving vehicles soon
Google's self-driving car has been involved in yet another major accident in the United States.
The vehicle was struck by a van that went through a red light and collided into its passenger side yesterday afternoon.
Google's car, a modified Lexus SUV, had been carrying out testing on the roads near the company's Mountain View headquarters in California.
The Google car was left severely damaged following the accident
No blame has been attached to the Google car for the collision, which happened at the intersection between El Camino Rea and Phyllis Ave in Mountain View.
However the vehicle itself was left in a bad condition following the crash, being towed away afterwards with major dents in the front and rear doors on the passenger side.
Photos of the aftermath also show that the airbags were deployed in the Google car, a reassuring sight in the testing of the vehicles.
A Google spokesperson told 9to5Google: “Our light was green for at least six seconds before our car entered the intersection."
"Thousands of crashes happen everyday on US roads, and red-light running is the leading cause of urban crashes in the US."
"Human error plays a role in 94 per cent of these crashes, which is why we’re developing fully self-driving technology to make our roads safer.”
Google has been testing a range of vehicles as it looks to develop a car
Google has been working on its smart vehicle project for some time, with testing of the cars being carried out on the roads around its Mountain View headquarters in California.
However the cars have not enjoyed a completely smooth ride in testing, being involved in several incidents so far.
This included an earlier incident when a company test vehicle was rear-ended by another car, although Google's auto was not to blame.
Earlier this year, another of the company's vehicles was involved in another collision when it drove into the side of a bus after being confused by its surroundings.
Google cars have been involved in nearly a dozen collisions in or around Mountain View since starting to test on city streets in the spring of 2014.
In most cases, Google's cars were rear-ended, and no one has been seriously injured.