Self-driving Uber kills woman in the States (1 Viewer)

[mikebeaches]

The first ever death reported - a pedestrian in Arizona hit by a self-driving Uber:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/19/uber-self-driving-car-kills-woman-arizona-tempe

 

[autorouter]

A cyclist, according to news reports

 

[hilldweller]

Hard luck Mike, you were first but seem to have been overlooked.

Two other following you just weren't paying attention.

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[DanielFord]

More to follow on this I suspect! All the autonomous vehicles have a human monitor, so both the human and the computer did not react to the pedestrian. Sort of suggests that perhaps the pedestrian may be to blame, but only time will tell.

 

[Langtoftlad]

...and in other news
Arizona statistics (2016) say there were 856 fatalities... over 2 a day but that doesn't make international headlines .

 

[Guigsy]

A self driving car killing someone at some point was statistically inevitable and this single data point doesn't prove anything... and no, I'm not that keen for there to be more data.

At some point in the future, self driving cars will be safer than your average human. I hope we get there pretty quickly. In the limited scenarios they are being used at the moment, they already perform pretty well i.e. fast and boring situations like motorways. But they are still pretty hopeless in city streets.

It's quite likely that the types of accidents that self driving cars have will be quite different from the accidents we're used to. Self driving cars potentially have incredibly good reflexes and car control. But they might get fatally flummoxed by situations that a human would merely blink at. I foresee overall vehicle related deaths falling massively, but then newspapers reporting self driving cars crashing because a large plastic bag flew across the road.

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[tonyidle]

Although I'm keen to see self-driving cars in use I believe there'll need to be a massive change in road use legislation before they can be successful. If they are programmed to stop or otherwise avoid pedestrians (and cyclists) as they must be it doesn't stretch the imagination to think of all the new games some of the aforementioned will play. If that happens autonomous vehicles will get nowhere in a busy town or city.

 

[CazPaul]

I can see some scams happening with conmen already thinking of ways to make a claim.

 

[RowleyBirkinQC]

Apparently the technology has been found “not to be at fault”, thereby implicating blame to the victim presumably?

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[Robert Clark]

there was also a driver in the car at the time

 

[Two on Tour]

Apparently the technology has been found “not to be at fault”, thereby implicating blame to the victim presumably?

Was that a quote from the Russia news agency ?

 

[SpeedyDux]

If this can happen in Arizona where the weather is near perfect, the roads are wide and traffic is light, the technology still has a very long way to go before it is safe enough to allow for commercial taxi use. If self-driving cars are supposed to be safer than cars driven by humans, this kind of stupid accident should not happen at all. It isn't good enough to put this down to statistical inevitability, especially when there are only 100 self-driving Ubers in what should be the most favourable test environment.

Tryng to run before they can walk springs to mind.

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[The Wino]

It will be an interesting legal case . Presumably the managers at uber will be to an extent personally liable it might focus their minds!

 

[Geo]

Pure physics
It take a given number of seconds and distance to stop a ton of moving metal traveling at a given speed
Step out in front of it in a shorter distance and your going to get hit
it really is that simple
Robot cars have a faster response time the injured party stepped out inside those parameters
and therefore would have been hit regardless of who or what was in control
In the olden days we called them accidents

 

[Enword]

If they cant have a fail-safe system that work's on something as simple as a Ski lift, why would I want to ride in a driver-less car

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[Guigsy]

If they cant have a fail-safe system that work's on something as simple as a Ski lift, why would I want to ride in a driver-less car

You use dozens of safety critical automated control systems every day like traffic lights, most of the planes you see in the sky, the power that comes out of your sockets to the ABS in your van. The vast majority are far safer than either a human controlled system. I hope that automated driving systems end up the same way.

 

[Enword]

You use dozens of safety critical automated control systems every day like traffic lights, most of the planes you see in the sky, the power that comes out of your sockets to the ABS in your van. The vast majority are far safer than either a human controlled system. I hope that automated driving systems end up the same way.

You are of course right, But when I've used a car that had anti lock brakes on a track day I've had to switch off the anti lock, as it impede's your lap times, Just saying that a human is not completely replaceable

 

[sdc77]

Appatently it wasnt self driving but just had driver assistance on.
So...
"Woman killed in car accident in America"

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[Two on Tour]

Appatently it wasnt self driving but just had driver assistance on.
So...
"Woman killed in car accident in America"

Can you add a link to where you got that information please.

 

[sdc77]

Having read lots of reports ..it was in autonomous mode with an operator on board. Early reports state she stepped out in front of it without warning.
So the operator or the car had no time to respond to her.
It's very sad but compared to the statistics of accidents daily in the US it's not that significant imho.

 

[Tincataylor]

Just for the sake of interest the world’s first steam-hauled, twin-tracked railway opened to great fanfare on 15 September 1830 with Stephenson’s Rocket leading the way, and there was a fatality on the very first day. However it did not stop the development of the railways and I suspect (hope) this will be the case with driverless cars as well.

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[PeteH]

Was the software running Windows 10?

 

[Dilbert]

Just a load of rich berks spending millions of dollars to put poor berks out of a job. How does the computer handle fog,snow, black ice or filling up with fuel.what happens if it finds the route blocked ,say by a tree

 

[Falcon 269]

A lot better than most human drivers, that's how.

This technology is coming (actually, it's here but just needs rolling out) and it has nothing to do with rich vs poor.

I would rather sit in an EV driving itself than in a petrol Vauxhall driven by my dad in his 80s.

He also rants against what he doesn't understand but one day he might be glad that he can still get around in a self-driving EV rather than have his licence revoked on grounds of age and poor eyesight.

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[Two on Tour]

Video footage had now been released of the exterior and interior views from the Uber vehicle.

In my view the cyclist was daft crossing the road but did not dart out as reported and if the vehicle was only in "assist mode" then the person behind the wheel was not concentrating on the job in hand. Why did the technology not see the cyclist as there was not sign of the vehicle braking.

 

[Two on Tour]

A lot better than most human drivers, that's how.

This technology is coming (actually, it's here but just needs rolling out) and it has nothing to do with rich vs poor.

I would rather sit in an EV driving itself than in a petrol Vauxhall driven by my dad in his 80s.

He also rants against what he doesn't understand but one day he might be glad that he can still get around in a self-driving EV rather than have his licence revoked on grounds of age and poor eyesight.

In a round about way you raise a good point which is what will be the criteria for using an autonomous vehicle. Will there have to be a person within the vehicle who is over a certain age or hold a certain licence or will it be anybody and everybody and where does the blame lay in the event of a collision or accident ?

 

[Camdoon]

I think the woman would have had a 75% chance of being hit by anyone. Poor by the car which should have responded but Darwinesque by the cyclist. I wouldn't use a Zebra crossing like that with the belief the driver would stop.

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[Camdoon]

Just for the sake of interest the world’s first steam-hauled, twin-tracked railway opened to great fanfare on 15 September 1830 with Stephenson’s Rocket leading the way, and there was a fatality on the very first day. However it did not stop the development of the railways and I suspect (hope) this will be the case with driverless cars as well.

It was a politician so how much a loss to humanity was that...

 

[Tincataylor]

As a certain deceased magician would have said......."Not a lot"............

 

[gus-lopez]

By all accounts the 'monitor' had multiple citations for traffic offences as well as felonies , not that that has anything to do with it.

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