Self driving Uber vehicle kills pedestrian

[johan]

Driver was distracted.

Not surprising. I seem to remember reading about how Google gave 5 or 10 luxury cars to their top execs, each car equipped with what was then their current level of self driving technology. Each exec had to sign an agreement which essentially said they understood that they had to remain attentive at the wheel while the car was in self-driving mode and that they further understood that the car was equipped with a camera facing them and that they would be fired on the spot no questions asked if they were caught looking at their phones while the car was in self-driving mode. Apparently all 10 execs had been caught texting or playing with their phones while driving within the first week.

The video makes it seem questionable whether or not the accident could have been avoided had the driver been paying attention and/or driving a vehicle that lacked self-driving capability. What's more puzzling is why the lidar (assuming the system utilized lidar) didn't see the person long before they were in the headlights.