Trusted Reviews is supported by its audience. If you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a commission. Learn more.

Self-driving cars have been getting into fender-benders stateside

They’re supposed to make our roads safer, but new figures have revealed that a number of self-driving cars have been getting into prangs on American roads.

With just 48 autonomous vehicles currently being tested on Californian streets, four self-driving cars have been involved in crashes in the past eight months.

Three of these unfortunate incidents involved converted Lexus SUVs pimped out by Google, while the fourth belonged to parts supplier Delphi Automotive.

This might not be a sign of the machines’ uprising just yet, however. According to BusinessInsider, just two of the four incidents occurred when the self-driving cars had taken control.

The other occasions had a human at the controls.

Despite the multiple fender-benders, both Google and Delphi have denied their cars were at fault for any of the accidents.

In the incidents in which the driverless cars were running the show, the cars are said to have been travelling at speeds less than 10mph.

The Californian Department of Motor Vehicles has refused to comment on the cause of any of the accidents.

Related: Driverless Cars: Everything you need to know

Autonomous cars are currently banned from UK roads, although this could be set to change in the not too distant future.

Earlier this year, the UK government confirmed it would review the nation’s motoring legislation to accommodate driverless cars in summer 2017.

Why trust our journalism?

Founded in 2003, Trusted Reviews exists to give our readers thorough, unbiased and independent advice on what to buy.

Today, we have millions of users a month from around the world, and assess more than 1,000 products a year.

author icon

Editorial independence

Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.

author icon

Professional conduct

We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.

Trusted Reviews Logo

Sign up to our newsletter

Get the best of Trusted Reviews delivered right to your inbox.

This is a test error message with some extra words