One of Google's self-driving prototypes has been involved in an injury accident for the first time, slightly injuring the people inside the car.
A Lexus SUV outfitted with state of the art sensors and cameras was rear-ended at a traffic stop in Mountain View, Calif., the search giant's home city.
About 20 of Google's self-driving SUV's have been maneuvering through traffic in Mountain View, as HNGN previously reported. One of the tech giant's autonomous vehicles was rear-ended on July 1 by a motorist who was travelling at 17 mph, according to USA Today. The driver of the vehicle was not able to brake on time.
The Lexus SUV had three Google employees onboard, who complained of minor whiplash. Despite the minor injuries, they were later checked out at a hospital and cleared to go back to work. The driver of the other car also complained of whiplash, according to ABC News.
Chris Urmson, a project director for Google's self-driving car operations, said that the accident is proof that motorists are beginning to be very lax on the roads.
"Our self-driving cars are being hit surprisingly often by other drivers who are distracted and not paying attention to the road," he said.
Despite the accidents, Google's self-driving cars have managed to earn pretty good stats, Mashable reported. The autonomous vehicles have been hit by other drivers 14 times since the project began back in 2009, though they have never hit another car.
