Apple Reports First Self-Driving Car Accident in California

An autonomous vehicle part of Apple’s self-driving vehicle plans, was involved in an accident last week.

Apple disclosed to the California Department of Motor Vehicles one of its self-driving test vehicles was rear-ended by a Nissan Leaf, in a minor fender bender—but no injuries occurred. As per Bloomberg:

This is the first time a collision involving an Apple autonomous vehicle has been reported by the California DMV. The car, a Lexus SUV in self-driving mode, was rear-ended by another vehicle when it was preparing to merge onto a highway in the Bay Area called the Lawrence Expressway, according to the report. Both vehicles sustained damage but no injuries were reported, the filing added.

On the afternoon of Aug. 24, Apple’s car was traveling at less than 1 mile per hour, while the car that rear-ended it, a Nissan Leaf, was moving at about 15 miles per hour, according to the report, which was filed by Steve Kenner, who works on Apple’s driverless tech project.

The highway the autonomous Lexus SUV was trying to merge into is known to be busy with challenging merges, which may have possibly posed difficult for a self-driving system.

Apple was granted a permit to test autonomous vehicles last spring by the California DMV.