LOS ANGELES—California state officials released reports Thursday detailing six accidents that involved self-driving car prototypes, reversing a policy that had shielded details of how the next-generation technology is performing during testing on public roads.
The disclosure came after The Associated Press successfully argued to the Department of Motor Vehicles that the agency was improperly withholding the information.
According to the reports, most of the cars were in self-driving mode when the accidents happened, and the other driver caused the accident. None of the crashes were serious enough to injure the person the state requires to sit behind the wheel, and the reports states none of the people in the other cars were treated for injuries either.
The companies that operated the cars—tech titan Google and parts supplier Delphi Automotive—submitted their own accounts of the accidents. Police have only confirmed investigating the Delphi crash.
Led by Google, self-driving cars have been running on public roads since 2009. It was only in September, however, that the DMV officially began permitting the testing—and specifically requiring companies to file accident reports.
