A new video shows a Google self-driving car hitting a bus in California, the first such accident where the tech company said its vehicle was at fault.
The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority released the video to The Associated Press.
It shows several views from inside and outside the bus. In one clip, filmed seemingly from the front of the vehicle, Google’s car pulls into the bus’s lane moments before the collision.
Another view depicts riders on the bus responding to the moment of the crash. The film also depicts the driver of the bus reacting, first with surprise and then irritation, to the incident.
The wire service requested the video from the transportation authority after the accident last month.
The incident, which took place on Valentine’s Day, was the first accident involving a Google self-driving car where the company said it was at least partially responsible for the crash.
“In this case, we clearly bear some responsibility, because if our car hadn’t moved there wouldn’t have been a collision,” the company said. “That said, our test driver believed the bus was going to slow or stop to allow us to merge into the traffic, and that there would be sufficient space to do that."
In previous cases, the company has said that responsibility lay either with the driver in the other vehicle involved or with one of its human test drivers, who can take control of the self-driving cars if need be.
Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group, called for Google to release any video it has of the crash. Representatives for the project at Google did not immediately respond to a question about whether the company had its own footage of the incident.
The crash — and other incidents involving the cars — is being closely watched as regulators decide what limitations to set on self-driving cars, which may hit the market in the coming years.
California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is considering a draft rule that would require a licensed human driver to be behind the wheel of a self-driving car at all times. Industry has proved resistant to the idea, which it says would limit the potential of the vehicles.
