Skip to main content

US transport chief: ‘Google car crash not a surprise’

The recent accident in California involving a Google autonomous car and a bus “was not a surprise,” according to US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx. No one was hurt in the accident, which happened when Google’s Lexus RX-450H tried to avoid some sandbags placed around a storm drain and blocking its path; the car’s computer was said to be at fault. Speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, Secretary Foxx told the BBC: “It's not a surprise that at some point there wo
March 14, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The recent accident in California involving a Google autonomous car and a bus “was not a surprise,” according to US transportation secretary Anthony Foxx.

No one was hurt in the accident, which happened when Google’s Lexus RX-450H tried to avoid some sandbags placed around a storm drain and blocking its path; the car’s computer was said to be at fault.

Speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, Secretary Foxx told the BBC: “It's not a surprise that at some point there would be a crash of any technology that's on the road.

“But I would challenge one to look at the number of crashes that occurred on the same day that were the result of human behaviour.”

"Driverless technology presents a lot of potential for disruption on a number of fronts," he said.

"It's unclear to me now exactly how that future unfolds."

Related Content

  • March 26, 2021
    Buttigieg: US falls short on pedestrian safety 
    Roads should be designed around the human being, says US transportation secretary
  • April 30, 2015
    US budget proposals seek recognise ITS benefits
    President Obama’s latest budget brings some good news for the transportation and ITS sectors. President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget could see more progress on many of America’s ingrained transportation problems than has been achieved in some time and includes a six-year $478 billion surface transportation reauthorisation. That is, of course, provided it clears all of the administrative hurdles to become law.
  • July 17, 2015
    APA supports automated work zone speed enforcement
    A trade association representing the highway construction industry strongly supports automated enforcement of speed limits in work zones and Maryland's experience with a similarly designed program has had very good results, the association head has told a joint Pennsylvania House and Senate committee. According to PennDOT, 24 people were killed in work-zone crashes in 2014, eight more than in 2013. Additionally, there were 1,841 crashes in work zones last year, a slight decrease from the 1,851 crashes
  • January 26, 2012
    US incident management needs national standardisation
    I-95 Corridor Coalition's Tom Martin discusses the state of the art in incident management and what visitors to this year's ITS World Congress can expect of the first ever Emergency Responder-Incident Management Day. Developments in incident management are driven in the main by need. A bald statement, and one which holds no surprises, it nevertheless quantifies the evolutionary process within the I-95 Corridor Coalition over the last decade and more. Spread over 16 states from Maine to Florida, the Coalitio