"According to Google, its SUV was stopped near an intersection when another car hit it at about 17 mph. On-board sensors showed the other car did not brake."
So an idiot rear-ended a stopped vehicle. Unfortunately, this happens hundreds of times every day.
Would it also be newsworthy if someone stole a hubcap off a Google self-driving car?
The self driving cars seem to be a little accident prone and could be behaving in logical but unexpected ways by breaking, changing lanes, or halting in situations where a human driver would not.
They may additionally lack contextual awareness to make gut calls about whether or not it is appropriate to stop or change lanes given the driving behavior, distance and breaking frequency of the cars behind them.
Split action response times and lots information about whats going on in front of the car is great for preventing accidents where the car is legally responsible but I can see scenarios where you could see them indirectly causing accidents which can be blamed on the other party but were partially based on the driving behavior of the car itself.
"Google says one of its self-driving cars has been involved in a theft for the first time. The tech giant disclosed Tuesday that one of its SUV's had the right-rear hubcap stolen while it was stopped at a red light in its home city of Mountain View. The two people on board complained of shifty characters on the corner while stopped. On-board sensors and Google's Android Device Manager Find My Phone feature indicated the theft was committed by Jonathan Smith, aged 19, of neighboring Sunnyvale, California."