Monday, March 19, 2018

Pedestrian killed by self-driving Uber car in Arizona, clearly, people who don't want to be bothered by driving should get a taxi or a horse instead of a self driving car.



The victim, Elaine Herzberg is visible for a fleeting moment before the strike, but the vehicle’s lidar system should have seen her well before that. Any claims to the contrary are irresponsible. That is the sole function of the collision prevention system, and it's technical superiority in the dark is unmatched by any human eye.

The approach was straight and Herzberg was already in the street, having crossed at least one lane before impact. Lidar is supposed to be the golden goose for autonomous technology, allowing for digital imaging beyond what the human eye is capable of. But it completely failed in this instance — either because the hardware failed to pick the woman up or the software simply did not recognize her. Neither the car, nor Vasquez, attempted to apply the brakes as it approached Herzberg, and those failures ultimately proved fatal.

Uber is suspending its self-driving car operations after a pedestrian was struck and killed by one of Uber's self-driving vehicles in Arizona overnight. Police said Monday the vehicle involved in the fatality was in autonomous mode at the time, with an operator behind the wheel. It was heading north in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe when it hit a woman walking outside a crosswalk.

Not that the crosswalk location relative to a pedestrian is a legit reason for an Uber self driving car to kill anyone or anything, but the news is certain that it's important to add the dead woman was jay walking. Effing assholes.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/tempe-pedestrian-killed-self-driving-uber-car-police-say/
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2018/03/uber-tempe-video/#more-1617988

7 comments:

  1. Like someone commented early on: "If autonomous cars halve annual traffic deaths to 20,000 from 40,000, you don't get 20,000 thank you notes, but 20,000 lawsuits".

    This won't even be the first one.

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    1. 3rd death attributable to the new pressure to perfect am autonomous car that I know of, and I don't even follow these, I merely hear about a death now and then

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    2. For the record, it looks like no autonomous cars have been at fault in any of these incidents, including this one.

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    3. Name the incidents you refer to then. I know for a fact that one was clearly to all, including you, the fault of the camera system. i already posted about it. Your vague "no autonomous car have been at fault in any" has nothing but opinion until you cite the specific cases you refer to, and then allow others to examine the facts themselves.
      This case, woman dead, autonomous car hit her... what is the cause of her death then? It wasn't a horse trampling her, nor a piano falling off a crane.
      Sidebar, would she have died if the people in the autonomous car had taken a taxi, bus, or ridden a train, horse, or motorcycle?
      Inquiring minds would like to know

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    4. https://www.autoblog.com/2018/03/19/uber-autonomous-volvo-fatality/

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    5. The victim, Elaine Herzberg is visible for a fleeting moment before the strike, but the vehicle’s lidar system should have seen her well before that. Any claims to the contrary are irresponsible.

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  2. In Texas we don't have a hit and run law but a failure to render aid. The question is does the passenger in a self driving car that gets into a wreck have an obligation to stay at the scene or can they leave without a problem

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