In California, two car-drone nearly staged an accident

Two unmanned vehicles owned by Google and Delphi Automotive Plc, barely avoided a collision in Silicon Valley in California.

This is the first such case since cars without drivers appeared on city streets, Reuters notes.

The incident occurred in Palo Alto, told John Ebsmeier, who heads the Delphi's Silicon Valley lab. At the time of the incident, he was on the passenger seat of his company's drone. The model, assembled on the basis of the Audi Q5 crossover, is equipped with lasers, radars, video cameras and special software that allow the car to move along the streets without the participation of the driver.

Direct contact between the machines did not occur. According to Ebsmeyer, the Audi Q5 “took appropriate measures” - preferred to change lanes when it was cut by Google’s similarly equipped crossover Lexus RX400h.

Lab Delphi's Silicon Valley is located near the headquarters of Google. The company, which primarily deals with automotive electronics, is testing two Audi Q5 controlled by artificial intelligence in California, while its competitor is running more Lexus 20 crossovers. 23 June, Google launched tests on the streets of a drone of its own design.

Previously, both companies claimed that their autonomous cars since the beginning of the tests were in a small number of accidents. At the same time, in all incidents, other participants in the movement or drivers of UAVs who took the steering wheel in their hands, ignoring the decisions of the system, were found guilty.