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Waymo self-driving car crashes in Arizona

Waymo car was not the 'violator vehicle'
Posted at 1:12 PM, May 04, 2018
and last updated 2018-05-04 16:37:16-04

A self-driving vehicle operated by Waymo was involved in a crash in Chandler on Friday afternoon. 

Helicopter footage from Scripps station KNXV in Phoenix showed significant damage to the self-driving van, as well as a silver sedan, after the collision near Chandler Village Drive and Chandler Boulevard. Minor injuries were reported in the crash.

Chandler police said the Waymo van was in autonomous mode with an occupant behind the wheel at the time of the crash, but was not the "violator vehicle."

Police spokesman Seth Tyler said it is believed that this is the first Waymo collision in Chandler this year.

RELATED: Waymo gives 360-degree view of what it's like inside self-driving cars

This is the second known self-driving car crash in the Phoenix area in the past two months. An Uber self-driving vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian in Tempe on March 19.

After the March crash, Waymo CEO John Krafcik said he was confident in his company's technology.

In November 2017, Waymo announced that self-driving cars would be tested in Chandler without someone in the driver's seat. Chandler police told KNXV that an operator was behind the wheel at the time of Friday's collision. 

KNXV has reached out to Waymo for a comment on the crash.

Waymo is subsidiary of Google. The company was founded in 2009.