One of Google's self-driving cars crashed into a bus in California last month. There were no injuries.
谷歌公司的一辆自动驾驶汽车上个月在加州与一辆公交车相撞,所幸无人员受伤。
It is not the first time one of Google's famed self-driving cars has been involved in a crash, but it may be the first time it has caused one. Google is to meet with California's Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to discuss the incident, and determine where the blame lies.
这不是谷歌的自动驾驶汽车第一次牵扯到交通事故之中了,不过引发交通事故尚属首次。谷歌公司将会晤加州机动车管理局商讨事故相关信息以及责任归属。
On 14 February the car, travelling at 2mph (3km/h), pulled out in front of a public bus going 15mph (24km/h). The human in the Google vehicle reported that he assumed the bus would slow down to let the car out, and so he did not override the car's self-driving computer. The crash happened in Mountain View, near Google's headquarters.
2月14日,当时谷歌的这辆汽车正以2迈的速度(3公里/小时)行驶,与一辆以15迈速度(24公里/小时)行驶的公交车发生碰撞。而谷歌汽车中的工作人员报告称,自己当时认为公交车会放慢速度让汽车通过,因此并未替代自驾计算机进行操作。据悉,这起事故就发生在谷歌公司总部附近的山景城。
In a statement, Google said: "We clearly bear some responsibility, because if our car hadn't moved, there wouldn't have been a collision. That said, our test driver believed the bus was going to slow or stop to allow us to merge into the traffic, and that there would be sufficient space to do that."
谷歌公司在一份声明中表示:“很明显在此次事故中我们负有一定责任,因为如果我们的汽车不变道,事故便不会发生。公司的测试驾驶员相信公交车会减速或停下允许汽车并入车道,当时道路上的空间非常充足。”
The company's self-driving cars have clocked up well over a million miles across various states in the US, and until now have only reported minor "fender benders" - the American slang for a small collision. In all of those cases, other road users were to blame.
谷歌公司的自动驾驶汽车在美国各州的行驶记录已经达到100万英里,截至目前为止仅仅出现过几次“小的刮蹭”。在这些事故中谷歌汽车都不属于责任方。
Google said it had now refined its self-driving algorithm. "From now on, our cars will more deeply understand that buses (and other large vehicles) are less likely to yield to us than other types of vehicles, and we hope to handle situations like this more gracefully in the future."
此外,谷歌公司表示已对自动驾驶技术的算法进行了改进。“从现在开始,公司的汽车将更深刻地认识到公交车(和其他大型汽车)并不太可能会像其他汽车那样允许我们并道。我们希望日后能够更为得体地处理这样的情况。”
If the DMV considers the Google car to be at fault for the collision, it could be seen as a setback for the company's ambitious autonomous vehicle plans.
如果加州机动车管理局认定谷歌汽车为此次事故的责任方,那么其雄心勃勃的自动驾驶计划无疑将遭受重大的挫折。