Waymo Self-driving Car Hit In Collision On Arizona Street

Police in a Phoenix suburb are investigating a collision involving a self-driving vehicle owned by Waymo. Chandler Police say the incident happened Friday afternoon when a Honda sedan swerved to avoid hitting another car. The Honda then went into opposing traffic lanes and hit the Waymo car.

Police say the vehicle was in autonomous mode, but there was an occupant in the driver's seat who suffered minor injuries. Waymo is Google's self-driving car spinoff and in fact a growing one at that.Very recently, Jaguar and Waymo announced a long-term strategic partnership which will see the two companies develop the world's first premium self-driving electric vehicle for Waymo's driverless transportation service. Jaguar Land Rover and Waymo will work together to design and engineer autonomous vehicles and the car that will come equipped with this technology will be none other than the recently launched I-Pace.

Also Read: Jaguar Land Rover And Waymo Announce Partnership For Autonomous EVs

The Waymo Jaguar I-Paces will be equipped with Waymo's self-driving technology and the testing for these cars will start later this year. On-road testing and capturing real-world data will allow Waymo and Jaguar Land Rover engineers to refine technology and deliver optimum safety and reliability. Up to 20,000 I-Paces will be built in the first two years of production and will be available for riders of Waymo's driverless service.

It's a big deal, therefore and the collision does raise a lot of issues and in fact reminds us of the Uber incident that raised a question mark on autonomous technology. It was the first death involving a fully autonomous vehicle. However, Waymo says in a statement that its mission is to make roads safer. It released a video of the moments before the collision. The safety of self-driving technology has come under recent scrutiny.