Apple's autonomous vehicle has had its first car accident

We have been talking about the fact that Apple has been testing its fleet of autonomous vehicles for several months now they wrote several times already. The appearance of these cars is very well known, as they have been regular participants in road traffic in California since last spring. After several months of testing, Apple's autonomous vehicles have also had their first car accident, although they played a rather passive role in it.

Information about the first accident of these "intelligent vehicles" became public yesterday. The incident should have occurred on August 24, when the driver of another vehicle crashed into the test Lexus RX450h from behind. Apple's Lexus was in autonomous test mode at the time. The accident happened on the approach to the expressway, and according to the information so far, the driver of the other car is fully at fault. The tested Lexus almost stood still as it waited for the lane to clear in order to shift into gear. At that moment, a slowly moving (about 15 mph, i.e. about 25 km/h) Nissan Leaf hit him from behind. Both vehicles were damaged with no injuries to crew members.

This is what Apple's test autonomous vehicles look like (source: Macrumors):

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Apple autonomous car 2

Apple autonomous car 3

Apple autonomous car 4

Apple autonomous car 5

Apple autonomous car 1

The accident information is relatively detailed due to California law, which requires immediate reporting of any accidents involving autonomous vehicles on public roads. In this case, the record of the accident appeared on the Internet portal of the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

Around Cupertino, Apple is testing both a fleet of these white Lexuses, of which there are about ten, but also using special autonomous buses that transport employees to and from work. In their case, no traffic accident has yet occurred. It is still not entirely clear with what intention Apple is developing the technology for autonomous vehicle driving. The original speculation about the development of the vehicle turned out to be wrong over time, as Apple restructured the entire project several times. So now there is talk that the company is developing some kind of "plug-in system" to offer to car manufacturers. However, we will have to wait a few more years for its introduction.