Q Nobody can convince me that these Google self-driving cars are currently safe.

Deborah Miller

Saratoga

A Why is that?

Q I have been involved in two near-accidents with Google vehicles.

I exited Highway 101 to Shoreline Boulevard, driving toward the Googleplex. I stopped at the red light at Charleston. I was in the left-turn lane, and started to move forward on the green arrow. As I started to turn, a Google car in the opposite direction headed toward me, going straight through the intersection.

Luckily, I was alert and I stopped in the middle of the intersection. The Google car must have gone through its red light. It would have T-boned me had I exercised my right of way.

Deborah Miller

A And the second close call?

Q I was on El Camino Real in Mountain View, stopped at a red light, waiting to turn right on San Antonio Road. The car in front of me was a Google vehicle. When the light turned green, it started to go. Then I started to go. The Google car went a few feet, then stopped hard for absolutely no reason.

Luckily, I was alert and not following too closely, and I was able to stop.

Deborah Miller

A And here’s another report …

Q I was waiting to make a left turn from Middlefield Road onto San Antonio Road. A Google driverless car was on the opposite side of the intersection, waiting to make a right onto San Antonio. I needed to get into the far-right lane on San Antonio to go into a gas station on the corner. When the light changed to a green arrow I started my turn, but the Google car rushed out ahead of me, making its right turn.

As I understand it, a car making a right turn on a red light has to yield to cars with a green arrow. I would have honked, but I don’t suppose Google cars listen.

Then my wife saw a Google car make a right turn directly into the middle lane, not the curb lane as the driver’s handbook says to do.

Google driverless cars have the reputation of driving like little old ladies. Maybe Google is trying to change that.

Paul Gregory

Palo Alto

A Other similar reports have rolled in, and Google’s post-test evaluations will hopefully solve these turning problems.

A recent survey from AAA reported that 3 out of 4 U.S. drivers feel “afraid” to ride in a self-driving car. But AAA also found that drivers who own vehicles equipped with semiautonomous features — such as lane-departure warning, adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking and self-parking — are 75 percent more likely to trust this sort of technology than those who do not.

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