A self-driving car killed a dog in San Francisco. Accidents involving autonomous vehicles are very rare.
It was a robot taxi from Google sister company Waymo that hit the dog, according to a document from the California traffic authorities. The animal crossed the street from behind a parked car and was grabbed by the car.
A Waymo employee was also in the driver’s seat during the accident. The software did detect that the dog was in front of the car, but an accident could not be avoided, partly due to the speed of the animal.
The incident comes at a very inopportune time for the technology behind self-driving cars. One of the developers’ arguments is that the technology is safer than human drivers. Both Waymo and GM subsidiary Cruise are active in San Francisco with self-driving cars. But not everyone is happy with that. Some residents complain that the cars sometimes block the road when they break down. The local public transport company has also complained about traffic nuisance.
The only known fatal accident involving a self-driving car to date took place in 2018. A woman was run over during a test in the US.
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