Hey, my algorithm indicates that I am driving here!
Two autonomous cars made history this week when one cut off the other on a Palo Alto, Calif., street.
According to Reuters, a self-driving Audi Q5 prototype built by automotive supplier Delphi was attempting to make a lane change when a similar car owned by Google abruptly pulled in front of it, causing the Audi to abort its maneuver.
There was no robot road rage reported.
The Delphi car “took appropriate action,” said the company’s Silicon Valley Director, John Absmeier, who was a passenger in the car at the time of the near-miss, during which no accident occurred.
Google had no comment on the incident.
To date, no autonomous car operating under its own control has been involved in a collision on public roads in California, where testing is permitted with state approval.
Earlier this year one of Delphi’s Q5s completed a coast-to-coast trip driving itself 99 percent of the way. It reports encountering several aggressive drivers along the way, all of them human, but it looks like the times are quickly changing.
