One of Apple’s self-driving cars just got involved in a major crash. It’s the first time any of the brand’s vehicles has had an accident, but it looks like the car wasn’t at fault here.
Instead, the blame appears to lie with a human. The incident occurred on August 24 at around 3 pm in Cupertino, California. Apple’s autonomous Lexus SUV had slowed to less than 1mph while waiting for a safe gap to appear so it could merge onto the Lawrence Expressway South from Kifer Road.
Apple Self-Driving Car Crash Aftermath
The self-driving car and its human driver were in for a rude shock as a 2016 Nissan Leaf rammed into them from behind at about 15mph. No one was injured, but the vehicles weren’t as lucky. Both incurred moderate damage, according to a report Apple filed with the California DMV.
California requires all companies to disclose autonomous vehicle accidents so that they’re a matter of public record. Apple hasn’t directly commented on the collision yet and it probably won’t in the future either. The company hasn’t even admitted that it’s working on self-driving cars even though it has one of the largest fleets out there.
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This accident is pretty mild compared to others. Uber underwent intense scrutiny when one of its autonomous vehicles killed a woman in Arizona earlier this year. It shut down testing at the time, with plans to restart its efforts sooner or later.
Apple’s self-driving car plans are a bit hazy at the moment. The narrative so far is that it was planning to build a car, but changed its mind because of the complexity involved. The firm’s focus is on software at the moment. However, there are still reports which claim that an Apple Car is coming in 2025.