Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/513060
42 maltatoday, Sunday, 17 May 2015 Motoring Self-driving cars suffer four accidents in California Four self-driving cars being tested on the public roads of California have been involved in accidents. Two of the accidents happened while the cars were in self-drive mode, and the other two while a person was in control, the As- sociated Press reported. Self-driving cars fitted with sensors and computers have been allowed for testing on the state's roads since September. A person must be in the car at all times, including when the car is driving itself. There are a total of 48 self- driving cars being tested by sev- en companies. Three of those involved in accidents were Lex- us SUVs operated by Google, the other was operated by car parts company Delphi Automotive. Both companies said their ve- hicles were not at fault in any of the accidents and described the collisions as minor. The Delphi accident happened in October and involved a self- driving Audi SQ5 which was moderately damaged. It was being driven by a person and was waiting to make a left turn when it was broadsided by another car. Under licences given to com- panies testing self-driving cars, accidents have to be reported to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. It confirmed there had been four accidents but did not give details. It is understood the cars were travelling at less than 10mph in all four cases. Google is testing 23 self-driv- ing Lexus SUVs. In a statement Google said there had been a "handful of minor fender-bend- ers, light damage, no injuries, so far caused by human error and inattention". The company said its self-driv- ing cars have done 140,000 miles, which was "the equivalent of over 15 years of typical human driv- ing". However, according to the Na- tional Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the average rate for minor collisions is only 0.3 per 100,000 miles driven.