I have previously blogged about Google’s attempts to create a self-driving car. One of the rationales behind this technology is that it is safer. Well, not so much, apparently.

Jalopnik has the scoop:

Sent in by a Jalopnik tipster, the photos were snapped earlier this week near Google’s Mountain View, Calif., headquarters. The Prius — recognizable as a Google self-driving prototype from the roof equipment that’s smaller than a typical Google Streetview image collector — appears to have rear-ended another Prius..

Here is the statement from Google:

The boys at Business Insider received the following quote from a Google spokesperson about the accident: “Safety is our top priority. One of our goals is to prevent fender-benders like this one, which occurred while a person was manually driving the car.”

Stay tuned.

H/T Zak Slayback

Update: Oh, the irony. Ryan Calo (who is guest-blogging at Concurring Opinions this month), forwarded me this story: It figures: A Human driver crashes Google’s robot controlled car.

It turns out that Google should have just let the robot keep driving. In an ironic turn of events, one of Google’s self-driven automatic cars has gotten involved in what appears to be the project’s first accident. The irony? It was the human driving the car manually at the time that caused the crash.

When will people learn? Just trust Google and you’re good.