News Roundup: More Crashes For Google Driverless Cars, Michigan Driverless Car and Hacking Laws Move Forward, and More

Michigan laws that would allow driverless cars on public roads for any reason, address car hacking move forward in House

A law that recently passed unanimously in the Michigan state Senate has been allowed to move forward in the House. The law would allow driverless cars to be driven on public Michigan roads for any reason, not just while being tested. At the same time, another bill moved forward — one that would make hacking into the electronic systems of a vehicle a felony. The next step for the bills will be discussion on the House floor, before deciding if and when to vote. Read more about the two bills on Crain’s Detroit Business.

Google self-driving cars have three collisions in Arizona in August

Google has confirmed that its self-driving test cars were in three collisions in Chandler, Arizona, located in the Phoenix metro area, in August. In two of the accidents, the car was in manual mode, being controlled by a human driver at the time of the crash. One of those collisions involved a drunk driver who rear-ended the Google car, injuring one of its passengers and sending him or her to the hospital with a concussion, according to media reports. In the other, the Google driver was cited in the crash, though investigation suggests the driver of the other car actually ran a red light and hit the Google car while making a left turn. In the third accident, the car was in autonomous mode when it was rear-ended by a human-driven car that was stopped at an intersection. Read more about the collisions from the Associated Press on InsuranceJournal.com.

Utah State University team places in national Autonomous Vehicle Competition

A team of engineering students from Utah State University (USU) took second place in last week’s Autonomous Vehicle Competition (AVC) in Colorado. Their vehicle, called the “USU Cruiser,” was the only one that completed the test course and made it all the way to the end. The team said the secret to their success was a “slow but steady” approach, and how quickly their robotic car was able to course-correct if it lost its orientation or got confused. The team said they hope to improve upon the Cruiser and enter it again in next year’s AVC. Read more about the USU Cruiser on the College of Engineering’s website.