‘Summer is one of the most dangerous times of the year on U.S. streets’

“The most recent collision, during the evening rush hour on July 1, is a perfect example. One of our Lexus vehicles was driving autonomously towards an intersection in Mountain View, CA. The light was green, but traffic was backed up on the far side, so three cars, including ours, braked and came to a stop so as not to get stuck in the middle of the intersection. After we’d stopped, a car slammed into the back of us at 17 mph — and it hadn’t braked at all.”

Source: medium.com

Google’s experience with the research vehicles confirms that safety features take time to deploy though the infrastructure. Even the safest self-driving cars will be affected by other cars on the road and aggressive or distracted drivers. Their cars can still be rear-ended, resulting in a ticket and maybe some injuries.

Zero fatalities is a great goal, but sort of unrealistic. Autonomous and V2X suffer from these same time to deployment issues. Then again, how long did it take for all of us to be dependent on the internet and its related technologies?