Apple's self-driving car had its first traffic accident. Self-driving cars need to take human behavior into account

Apple said its self-driving car was involved in its first traffic accident in California last week.

The accident occurred at 2:58 p.m. Pacific Time on August 24 in Santa Clara, near Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, where Apple was testing its autonomous driving technology.

The accident involved a Lexus RX450h, which Apple has modified for its self-driving technology research. Apple's test car was rear-ended by a 2016 Nissan Leaf sedan. Both vehicles were damaged, but no one was injured.

Foreign media pointed out that like many traffic accidents involving self-driving vehicles, this accident was not a software problem.

The Verge, an American technology media website, pointed out that this accident does not reflect the progress of Apple's autonomous driving work, because many autonomous driving accidents are caused by human errors.

According to a report last year by Consumer Affairs, many autonomous vehicle accidents involve human drivers crashing into stationary or slow-moving autonomous vehicles.

In addition to ensuring the software works and is safe in all situations, autonomous driving software developers also need to consider how humans behave.

If developers want to avoid such collisions in the future, they will need to feed human behavior data into the software. In the coming years, software and human behavior will increasingly merge in autonomous vehicles.

Last year, Apple obtained the qualification for autonomous driving testing in California and then began road testing. According to foreign media reports, Apple has registered 66 autonomous driving test vehicles with the California Department of Motor Vehicles, with 111 drivers controlling the test vehicles.

An investigation last month revealed that 5,000 employees are working on Apple's self-driving car project. In addition, Apple has also partnered with Volkswagen to create self-driving shuttles for Apple's Cupertino campus.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.