Self-Driving Waymo Minivan Involved In A Crash

By now many of you would be aware that an Uber self-driving car struck down a pedestrian in Arizona a couple of months ago who died not too long after the accident. Uber has since suspended its autonomous driving tests as it conducts an investigation into what happens. There’s still a lot of work left to do to ensure that autonomous cars are completely safe on public roads, nevertheless, accidents will happen. One of Waymo’s self-driving minivan was involved in a crash in Arizona.

Local news stations report that one of Waymo’s self-driving minivans was involved in an accident in Chandler, Arizona earlier this week. This wasn’t a fatal accident, fortunately, but some minor injuries were reported at the scene.

The town’s police have said that the minivan was in autonomous mode when the crash happened and that there was a safety driver behind the wheel but the car wasn’t said to be the “violator vehicle,” which basically means that the accident was caused by some other car on the road.

A spokesperson for Waymo said that its car was struck when “another car traveling in an oncoming lane swerved across the median.” The company also released a small clip of the crash that was captured by the minivan’s onboard cameras.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Transportation
Tags: Self-Driving Cars, Waymo