What's all this about?

Google's oh-so-clever self-driving cars have been involved in 11 accidents since the programme began six years ago. A fleet of 20 autonomous cars have covered 1.7 million miles in US testing so far.

Ha ha! So, the self-driving car's not so safe, after all.

Ah. Don't get ahead of yourself. In fact, every single one of these accidents has been another party's fault, rather than a failure on the part of the self-driving machine. Apparently, dim-witted human drivers have rear-ended the Google cars on seven separate occasions while they sat at traffic lights, while most of the accidents are occurring in urban areas.

Oh. Presumably, Google is pleased with this?

Possibly, although we reckon the company would prefer it if there had been no crashes at all. Still, one crash every 155,000 miles or thereabouts isn't to be sniffed at, is it?

No. What does Google say about it all, then?

Chris Urmson, the director of Google's self-driving cars programme, said: "Not once was the self-driving car the cause of any accident. If you spend enough time on the road, accidents will happen whether you're in a car or a self-driving car. We'll continue to drive thousands of miles so we can all better understand the all-too common incidents that cause many of us to dislike day-to-day driving - and we'll continue to work hard on developing a self-driving car that can shoulder this burden for us. Even when our software and sensors can detect a sticky situation and take action earlier and faster than an alert human driver, sometimes we won't be able to overcome the realities of speed and distance."