Google self-driving car involved in another accident

A Google self-driving car was rear-ended this week, bringing the total number of accidents the vehicles have been involved in to 13, the San Jose Mercury News reported on Friday.

The newspaper reported that the car had been rear-ended while at a stoplight.

{mosads}“That’s two incidents just in the last week where a driver rear-ended us while we were completely stopped at a light!” a Google spokeswoman told the paper. “So that brings the tally to 13 minor fender-benders in more than 1.8 million miles of autonomous and manual driving — and still, not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident.”

Google executives frequently note that the self-driving technology has not caused any of the accidents, some of which occurred when a human driver had control of the car.

The company has been under pressure to make data about the accidents public as more of the cars enter testing on public streets.

On Friday, Google also released the first of what will be monthly reports on incidents involving the cars and debuted a website with details on the project.

The company edits out information that could identify other drivers involved in the accidents.

“I’m very proud of the record of our cars,” Google co-founder Sergey Brin said this week. “We don’t claim to be perfect, our goal is to beat human drivers.”

The company is currently testing modified SUVs equipped with its self-driving technology, but they are expected to deploy smaller prototype vehicles this summer that seat two people.

Though autonomous vehicles are still largely in the developmental phase, lawmakers have begun to explore what regulatory hurdles might need to be cleared to get them on the road. In March, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) sent a letter to the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to ask the agency to prepare for self-driving cars.

“We look forward to working with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to accelerate the safety benefits of this technology and encourage states as they consider its potential,” they wrote.

This story was updated at 8:24 p.m.