Self-driving car rear ends semi truck even with human driver at wheel

An autonomous car rear ended a semi truck during a self driving pilot program on the LAs Vegas strip on Monday. 

The crash happened on November 14th in Las Vegas, Nevada near the Planet Hollywood Resort. 

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a 2016 Toyota Highlander with a human driver inside was operating itself along Harmon Avenue when it rear-ended a semi truck owned by Las Vegas Paving. No one was hurt in the crash. The car was a part of an autonomous vehicle pilot program run by Zoox. 

During a police investigation, the woman inside of the car at the time of the crash told officers that she was in control of the vehicle, but had expected the car to stop on its own. By the time she realized the car was not going to stop for the semi truck ahead, it was too late. 

“(She) stated that she got confused and did not know what happened but thought that the vehicle was going to stop on its own and that she was too close when she realized it wasn’t going to stop,” the incident report states.

“We are currently conducting our own internal investigation about the incident, and do not have any information to share at this time,” Melissa Marasco, a spokeswoman for Amazon-owned Zoox.

The safety driver in the car was cited for failure to reduce speed and failing to use due care.