谷歌自動駕駛汽車再遇事故 撞上一輛巴士

One of Google's self-driving cars crashed into a bus in California last month. There were no injuries.

谷歌公司的一輛自動駕駛汽車上個月在加州與一輛公交車相撞，所幸無人員受傷。

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.

這不是谷歌的自動駕駛汽車第一次牽扯到交通事故之中了，不過引發交通事故尚屬首次。谷歌公司將會晤加州機動車管理局商討事故相關信息以及責任歸屬。

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，當時谷歌的這輛汽車正以2邁的速度（3公里/小時）行駛，與一輛以15邁速度（24公里/小時）行駛的公交車發生碰撞。而谷歌汽車中的工作人員報告稱，自己當時認爲公交車會放慢速度讓汽車通過，因此並未替代自駕計算機進行操作。據悉，這起事故就發生在谷歌公司總部附近的山景城。

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."

谷歌公司在一份聲明中表示：“很明顯在此次事故中我們負有一定責任，因爲如果我們的汽車不變道，事故便不會發生。公司的測試駕駛員相信公交車會減速或停下允許汽車併入車道，當時道路上的空間非常充足。”

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.

谷歌公司的自動駕駛汽車在美國各州的行駛記錄已經達到100萬英里，截至目前爲止僅僅出現過幾次“小的刮蹭”。在這些事故中谷歌汽車都不屬於責任方。

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，谷歌公司表示已對自動駕駛技術的算法進行了改進。“從現在開始，公司的汽車將更深刻地認識到公交車（和其他大型汽車）並不太可能會像其他汽車那樣允許我們並道。我們希望日後能夠更爲得體地處理這樣的情況。”

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.

如果加州機動車管理局認定谷歌汽車爲此次事故的責任方，那麼其雄心勃勃的自動駕駛計劃無疑將遭受重大的挫折。