General Motors’ Cruise Automation subsidiary continues to make moves. Now, the company has more than doubled its fleet of self-driving Chevrolet Bolt EVs to 100 total cars. That’s up from the previous 30 or 40 cars, according to a Reuters report.
Rebecca Mark, a spokesperson for GM Cruise, said the fleet increase occurred over the past three months as the company logs precious data to improve algorithms and bake in safety nets for countless codes. Mark also said the fleet has been involved in six minor crashes since September.
None of the crashes involving the self-driving Bolt EVs were because of the autonomous car, rather, human error in other vehicles or bicycles. In an ideal world, no self-driving car executes any illegal maneuvers, but human drivers are not perfect. GM Cruise recorded 13 crashes with human drivers through 2017 thus far. The minor crashes include an intoxicated cyclist who hit the self-driving Bolt EV head-on. The car had come to a stop and did not strike the cyclist, but the cyclist made contact with the bumper. Another driver rear-ended the self-driving car while operating a cell phone.
GM is keen to roll out self-driving cars sooner rather than later, but as long as human drivers are on the road, accidents and crashes will continue to occur.
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