An Interstate Batteries van gussied up in a NASCAR-themed livery based on the company’s sponsorship of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team collided with one of them fancy-pants Google self-driving Lexus cars in Mountain View, California according to 9to5Google.com.
According to the report, there were no injuries from the crash. It wasn’t immediately clear which vehicle was at fault nor whether or not the Google car was being piloted by a driver or a prototype autonomous system.
Google regularly publishes monthly reports on its self-driving car adventures, so we should eventually get the low-down on who did what, or what did what.
Still, this won’t stop the blood spilling in the imminent war between the NASCAR fleshies and the rise of the Artificial Intelligence machines. Then again, maybe robot cars versus race cars in all-out battle is what NASCAR needs for some revitalization.
Coincidentally, this is the second accident involving one of Google’s self-driving vehicles on El Camino Real in Mountain View, California. As pointed out by 9to5Google, the first and so far only accident where the autonomous system was at fault occurred on the same road back in March of this year when the Lexus steered itself into a bus.
If you fear the Skynet future we’re all headed towards, I’d avoid El Camino Real. It’s turning into the Wild West out there, dude.
We’ll be waiting for that report, Google.
Update: September 25th: Google has offered a statement:
A Google vehicle was traveling northbound on Phyllis Ave. in Mountain View when a car heading westbound on El Camino Real ran a red light and collided with the right side of our vehicle. Our light was green for at least six seconds before our car entered the intersection. Thousands of crashes happen everyday on U.S. roads, and red-light running is the leading cause of urban crashes in the U.S. Human error plays a role in 94% of these crashes, which is why we’re developing fully self-driving technology to make our roads safer.
Shoutout to Ron for the photo!
