Self driving Uber vehicle kills pedestrian

[Jackalope]

Self driving cars are actually very good. They have been around for a while now, this is the first case of a death.

What I really want to know is why the human driver didn’t brake. The whole reason there’s still a human behind the wheel is to act when the car fails. There’s clearly still work to do, but we also shouldn’t overreact to one case.

I heard a report on this in public radio this morning. Initial indications are that the pedestrian entered the roadway (not in a crosswalk) directly in the path of the vehicle and that the driver said that there was literally no time to react.

I think it's premature to draw conclusions but it's entirely possible that the outcome would have been no different if a human being had been in control of the vehicle at all times.

[Minimalist]

Yes, not in a crosswalk.

I wonder weather the self driving facility is capable of honking the horn.

It will not be a complete technology until it can not only honk the horn but give the pedestrian the finger!

[Jackalope]

Re: My earlier post

https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/art...765481.php

Pushing a bicycle laden with plastic shopping bags, a woman abruptly walked from a center median into a lane of traffic and was struck by a self-driving Uber operating in autonomous mode.

[...]

The self-driving Volvo SUV was outfitted with at least two video cameras, one facing forward toward the street, the other focused inside the car on the driver, Moir said in an interview.

From viewing the videos, “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway,” Moir said. The police have not released the videos.

(Emphasis added)

[bennyboy]

I've literally been at a green light on a 4-lane road and had some dumb fuck just walk right into the road staring with glazed eyes at her phone. I had to honk about 4 times before she snapped out of it, looked up like a deer caught in headlights, and dashed to the far side (right, of course, in front of another moving vehicle). And I was driving a yellow bus with lights flashing-- not a particularly difficult vehicle to notice.

There should be a law against anyone standing within 10 feet of a road even HOLDING a phone, AFAIC.

[Minimalist]

The video has now been released.






Actually, I would have expected better from a sensor-equipped vehicle.

[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.

[polymath257]

Another perspective:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/03/pol...elieve-it/

The original video is much darker than seems reasonable on that street.

[chimp3]

Death Race 2018! How many points was that?

Kidding! Sad news for this woman's friends and family.

[bennyboy]

Darwin works in strange and mysterious ways.

[vorlon13]

Another perspective:
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/03/pol...elieve-it/

The original video is much darker than seems reasonable on that street.

Viewability works both ways. What was up with victim ??

(I'm not blaming victim, just curious what it looked like from her perspective)