Apple's First Autonomous Vehicle Crash In California Revealed By DMV
Apple has experienced its first autonomous car crash in California, state DMV records reveal. The incident happened on August 24 and, based on the publicly available report, was the result of a different vehicle that struck the rear of the autonomous car. The incident is reported to have happened during daylight hours and didn't result in injuries.
Details about the incident surfaced in an autonomous vehicle collision report filed with the State of California Department of Motor Vehicles. Apple Inc. is listed as manufacturer/business; the autonomous vehicle is listed as a 2016 Lexus RX450h, and it was struck at low speeds by a 2016 Nissan Leaf.
In describing the accident, the DMV report states:
On August 24th at 2:58PM, an Apple test vehicle in autonomous mode was rear-ended while preparing to merge onto Lawerence Expressway South from Kifer Road. The Apple test vehicle was traveling less than 1 mph waiting for a safe gap to complete the merge when a 2016 Nissan Leaf contacted the Apple test vehicle at approximately 15 mph. Both vehicles sustained damage and no injuries were reported by either party.
The accident was a head-on collision for the Nissan Leaf and listed as a rear-end collision for the Apple autonomous car. The company has been notoriously secretive about its car project, the only details about it coming from leaks and random disclosures such as this DMV report. CNBC reports that Apple has 66 self-driving cars approved for testing in California.
The overwhelming majority of reported accidents involving self-driving vehicles were due to human, not machine, error. The notable exception is Uber's tragic collision earlier this year in which one of its self-driving vehicles struck a woman who was crossing the road; she later died from her injuries.