Google has revealed that its California-based self-driving fleet has been involved in 11 accidents over the past six years, but the news isn’t as bad as you think.
“Not once was the self-driving car the cause of the accident,” said Chris Urmson, Principal Engineer and Software Lead for Google’s self-driving vehicle program.
The disclosure comes following a report by the The Associated Press that claimed four driverless cars operating in The Golden State had gotten into accidents since September, prompting the tech giant to clarify on Monday. Three of those vehicles were reportedly in Google’s care, while the fourth was in the control of a parts supplier called Delphi Automotive.
All of the incidents have been minor, the tech giant says, resulting in “light damage, no injuries,” and occurred over the 1.7 million miles the vehicles have been on the road. As of this writing, a total of 48 autonomous cars are licensed to operate on California streets.
“Even when our software and sensors can detect a sticky situation and take action earlier and faster than an alert human driver, sometimes we won’t be able to overcome the realities of speed and distance,” Urmson said. “Sometimes we’ll get hit just waiting for a light to change.”
Several major automakers have poured significant funding into autonomous technology thus far, including Hyundai. In March, the brand announced that its piloted systems would be ready for production by 2020.
Audi, another proponent of self-driving technology, recently completed a 550-mile road trip to CES with computers behind the controls the majority of the time. Last year, Tesla CEO Elon Musk claimed his vehicles would be fully driverless “in the five or six-year time frame.”
Finally, Nissan recently unveiled a five-year research project with NASA to test the viability of self-driving cars.
Volkswagen’s newest EVs in China are making its American and European models look unusually conservative.
With Xpeng’s help, VW has introduced 800-volt charging and advanced urban driving assistance. The new VEGA technology package brings its locally developed vehicle platforms and CEA electronic architecture under one umbrella. Bloomberg reports that Volkswagen intends to update VEGA every three months. Western buyers can find pieces of that package, but not the whole thing in a Volkswagen.
BYD has launched the third-generation Qin Plus DM-i in China, and the first thing that caught my eye is its price. According to CarNewsChina, the plug-in hybrid sedan starts at 79,900 yuan, which is about $11,980. That’s an incredibly low price for a brand-new car, especially by US standards.
What’s even more impressive is the range. The Qin Plus DM-i can drive up to 137 miles on electricity alone, which should cover most people’s daily commutes without using a drop of gas. Once the battery runs out, the 1.5-liter engine takes over. Thanks to its 17-gallon tank and roughly 91 mpg with a drained battery, the combined range reaches up to 1,423 miles.
Apple won the PC market’s worst quarter, but that’s not the entire story. It won the race by stumbling less than everyone else.
PC makers shipped just 57 million computers worldwide in Q3, which might look good, but it’s a 21% year-over-year plunge (via Counterpoint Research). And despite Apple’s Mac shipments falling by 11%, to 5.6 million, its market share rose from 8.7% to 9.8%. How did that happen?