California reveals details of self-driving car accidents - 89.3 KPCC

California state officials released reports Thursday detailing six accidents that involved self-driving car prototypes, reversing a policy that had shielded details of how the next-generation technology is performing during testing on public roads. According to the reports, most of the cars were in self-driving mode when the accidents happened, and the other driver caused the accident. None of the crashes were serious enough to injure the person the state requires to sit behind the wheel, and the reports say none of the people in the other cars were treated for injuries either. Led by Google, self-driving cars have been running on public roads since 2009. It was only in September, however, that the DMV officially began permitting the testing — and specifically requiring companies to file accident reports. Until now, the agency said it could not reveal details about self-driving car accidents, citing state law making collision reports confidential. After the DMV denied a public records request, AP argued that the agency was incorrectly citing the confidentiality requirement and that the public has an interest in understanding how these experimental vehicles are performing as they drive... Source: www.scpr.org