Privacy

Consumer Group Says Self-Driving Cars Need Steering Wheels, Too

May 13, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p>As companies from Google to Tesla Motors race to develop self-driving cars, the nonprofit group Consumer Watchdog has a helpful suggestion: Don’t leave out the steering wheel.</p> <p>Or the brake pedal.</p>

Local Consumers Group Questions Safety Of Google’s Driverless Cars

May 13, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p><span class="timesDatelineBlack">May 13, 2015</span> -- While tech companies scramble to develop a new generation of driverless cars, one local consumer advocacy group says not so fast.</p> <p>Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog on Tuesday raised safety concerns about the budding technology and called on Google to provide the public with details of 11 collisions involving Google’s conceptual driverless cars.</p>

Opinion: What Google Didn’t Say About Its Self-Driving Cars

May 12, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p>Google's revelation about the (seemingly admirable) safety record of its self-driving cars may not actually further the cause of driverless vehicles in California.</p>

Humans At Fault In Self-Driving Car Crashes

May 12, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p>The riskiest thing about self-driving vehicles may turn out to be human drivers.</p> <p>Four of the nearly 50 self-driving cars undergoing tests on California roads since September, when the state began issuing permits to auto companies, have crashed.</p> <p>But the cars, three owned by Google and one by Delphi, were in collisions caused by human error.</p> <p>Driver inattention was behind the collisions involving the Google cars, said Katelin Jabbari, a spokeswoman for the tech giant, which is developing a fleet of autonomous vehicles.</p>

Should Google Give Us the Deets On Its Driverless Car Crashes?

May 12, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p>Google wants to take over our highways the way it has taken over the information superhighway. Its driverless cars are a lot closer to road domination than many people think.</p> <p>Back in 2012 Google announced that its robo rides had completed 300,000 miles of test driving without a single accident, making them <a href="http://mashable.com/2012/08/07/google-driverless-cars-safer-than-you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">safer than the average American driver</a> (who is involved in an accident about every 165,000 miles).</p>

Santa Monica Council Unanimously Approves Airbnb Regulations; Hosts To Pay Tax

May 12, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p class="inaugural">Despite a protest of almost 200 residents, the Santa Monica city council unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday that will prohibit residents from sharing their place when they're not present.</p> <p>This tough legislation is a first, Airbnb spokesperson Alison Schumer, told KPCC prior to the meeting. </p> <p>"The unnecessarily restrictive proposal would prohibit hosts from sharing their home with guests while the host is out of town — a unique provision which has never before been proposed," Schumer wrote in an email. </p>

Google’s Self-Driving Cars Involved In 11 Crashes

May 12, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<p>Google has revealed that its driverless cars have been involved in accidents 11 times, but says all the collisions were caused by other drivers.</p> <p>The accidents were all "minor", meaning light damage and no injuries, Chris Urmson, director of Google's self-driving car program, <a href="https://medium.com/backchannel/the-view-from-the-front-seat-of-the-google-self-driving-car-46fc9f3e6088">said on Monday</a>.</p> <p>"Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident," Urmson wrote.</p>

Consumer Group Demands Google To Disclose Driverless-Car Accident Data

May 12, 2015  ·  Mark Reback

<div class="copy-paste-block"> <p><span class="dateline">San Francisco — </span>Consumer Watchdog, a California-based group, is calling on Google to release data about accidents involving its driverless cars. The Associated Press reported Monday about several accidents on public highways in California.</p> <p>Carmen Balber, Consumer Watchdog's executive director, is hosting a press conference Tuesday morning in Santa Monica to discuss his group's efforts to discover more information.</p>

Self-Driving Cars Involved In Accidents In California

May 11, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p>Four of the nearly 50 self-driving cars now rolling around California have gotten into accidents since September, when the state began issuing permits for companies to test them on public roads.<br /> <br /> Two accidents happened while the cars were in control. In the other two a human was driving, a person familiar with the accident reports told <em>The Associated Press</em>. All four accidents involved speeds of less than 10 mph.<br /> <br />

Google Says The Accidents Its Self-driving Cars Have Been In Weren’t Their Fault

May 11, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<div class="article-content"> <p>Self-driving cars are supposed to be the solution to less-than-perfect human drivers. We get tired, have blind spots in our vision, and sometimes just flat-out choose to break driving laws. Robocars, on the other hand, are pimped out with sensors and artificial intelligence that’s supposed to make them almost crash-proof.</p>

Google Acknowledges 11 Accidents With Its Self-Driving Cars

May 11, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<div id="content-body-16194926-20651880"> <p>Google Inc. revealed Monday that its self-driving cars have been in 11 minor traffic accidents since it began experimenting with the technology six years ago.</p> <p>The company released the number after The Associated Press reported that Google had notified California of three collisions involving its self-driving cars since September, when reporting all accidents became a legal requirement as part of the permits for the tests on public roads.</p>

Google Self-Driving Car Crash Rates: Worrisome Or Impressive?

May 11, 2015  ·  Cody Rosenfield

<p>Google’s self-driving cars have been rear-ended and side-swiped while navigating Bay Area roads and freeways, but it’s never been the autonomous car’s fault, the company’s chief of driverless cars said in a defense of the technology Monday.</p>