A self-driving car operated by Waymo, Google’s autonomous vehicle company, hit and killed a dog in San Francisco in a recent incident. The tech giant claims, “the system correctly identified the dog which ran out from behind a parked vehicle but was not able to avoid contact.”
The Register reports that a self-driving car operated by Waymo, The autonomous vehicle division of Google, recently struck and killed a dog in San Francisco. At the time of the collision, the car was operating autonomously and a test driver was sitting in the driver’s seat.
(The Associated Press)
Google boss Sundar Pichai is masked up ( Drew Angerer /Getty)
“On May 21, a small dog unexpectedly ran in front of one of our vehicles, which had an autonomous specialist present in the driver’s seat and, unfortunately, contact was made,” a spokesperson for Waymo stated. The incident took place in a largely industrial area of the city on Toland Street, close to the intersection with Toland Place.
The spokesperson added: “The investigation is ongoing, however the initial review confirmed that the system correctly identified the dog which ran out from behind a parked vehicle but was not able to avoid contact. We send our sincere condolences to the dog’s owner. The trust and safety of the communities we are in is the most important thing to us and we’re continuing to look into this on our end.”
The dog is thought to have left an encampment on Toland Street and wasn’t wearing a leash at the time. Due to obstructions, the test driver did not see the dog approach. Waymo examined the incident and came to the conclusion that the collision could not have been avoided.
Since they were unable to get in touch with the owner, the business was unable to confirm whether the dog’s owner lived at the roadside camp.
When asked if Waymo intends to provide log data to verify its account of the incident, the spokesperson said, “We will work with local authorities if requested to provide relevant data through appropriate legal channels to ensure the privacy of individuals who may be impacted.”
The San Francisco Police Department was called to the scene to check on the welfare of a dog, but they were unable to locate any signs of a collision or an injured animal. Waymo has not yet provided clarification on how the incident was reported and handled, and the department has not dealt with the accident.
Waymo’s self-driving cars are causing traffic chaos in San Francisco. Breitbart News recently reported on an incident where one of its autonomous taxis caused a dangerous situation during a fire.
According to a report from Mission Local, a Waymo-operated robotaxi stumbled upon the scene of an explosion-related fire and refused to move out of the way. Police officers can be seen using a variety of tactics to stop the electric car from running over a fire hose in body camera footage. “It doesn’t know what to do!” one officer shouted at the scene.
A policeman lit a flare in an effort to stop the car, hoping that the smoke would prevent the taxi from crossing the water line. Officers attempted to stop the taxi, but it kept moving forward, so they asked Waymo for assistance. One of the officers said to the dispatcher, “Got a bit of a pickle. I got an autonomous vehicle, the Waymo, it’s inching slowly and closely to one of the main water lines that the SF Fire just charged. Can’t run it over,” he says. “I don’t trust this AI.”
After speaking with a Waymo representative over the car’s speakers, the car was finally put into park. A short while later, a support vehicle arrived to remove the car from the scene.
Read more at the Register here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan