Going by the California DMV’s records, Google had licenses for 23 self-driving cars in mid-May; and, as of September 28, the number has increased to 73.
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Other than these cars, the remaining fleet of Google’s self-driving cars consists of previous-generation Lexus RX450h SUVs.
“Some of the public is potentially in harm’s way, and that means there needs to be absolute transparency about what goes wrong”, Simpson said.
Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) has programmed the cars in a way that they can spot potential danger and brake instantly.
As a part of the demonstration, Google announced that it is serious about getting the autonomous Koala cars out to the public within the next four years-it has been subjecting its autonomous auto to extensive environmental tests just like other automakers, like exposing the vehicle to extreme heat, extreme cold, snow, rain, etc.
The second biggest fleet after Google is Tesla’s, which has 12 licensed cars and has been testing out an autonomous driving mode for use on highways. These cars are mostly seen driving in the vicinity of the “Google X” offices in Mountain View.
A Google self-driving navigates streets near the company’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, on June 29, 2015.
Still, Simpson said, the company should be releasing all it has for every accident. Most of the accidents involved the driverless cars being hit from behind on stopping abruptly after spotting danger.
As he understands it, Simpson said state law requires the DMV to respond to the rulemaking request within 30 days of submission.
Chris Urmson, Google’s lead on the driverless vehicle project, said at a conference in July that the prototypes are “a little more cautious than they need to be”, according to the Journal.
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He declined to comment on whether the type of information Consumer Watchdog wants the companies to disclose – videos, vehicle speeds, rate of deceleration and more – would help the department in that goal.
