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posted by FatPhil on Thursday November 09 2017, @04:44PM   Printer-friendly
from the sorry,-bot,-I-didn't-see-you dept.

On day one of its normal operations, a driverless shuttle bus in Las Vegas was involved in a minor crash [Luddites - content is there, but hidden by scripts/stylesheets - Ed.(FP)]. But neither the bus nor its human attendant were at fault:

A driverless shuttle bus was involved in a minor crash with a semi-truck less than two hours after it made its debut on Las Vegas streets Wednesday in front of cameras and celebrities. The human behind the wheel of the truck was at fault, police said. Las Vegas police officer Aden Ocampo-Gomez said the semi-truck's driver was cited for illegal backing. No injuries were reported.

"The shuttle did what it was supposed to do, in that it's (sic) sensors registered the truck and the shuttle stopped to avoid the accident," the city said in a statement. "Unfortunately the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle. Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle has the accident would have been avoided."

The oval-shaped shuttle that can transport up to 12 people has an attendant and computer monitor, but no steering wheel and no brake pedals. It uses GPS, electronic curb sensors and other technology to make its way. It was developed by the French company Navya and was tested in January in Las Vegas.

At the unveiling ceremony, officials promoted it as the nation's first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared toward the public. Before it crashed, dozens of people had lined up to get a free trip on a 0.6-mile loop in downtown Las Vegas. City spokesman Jace Radke said the shuttle took two more loops after the crash.

Also at DW, TechCrunch, and ZDNet.

Previously: Self-Driving Shuttle Bus Tested in Las Vegas


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Virindi on Thursday November 09 2017, @08:34PM (1 child)

    by Virindi (3484) on Thursday November 09 2017, @08:34PM (#594818)

    It's not illegal to do what is reasonably necessary in an emergency situation to save lives. The problem is, that is based on a "reasonable man" standard, and a computer by definition cannot make such an evaluation. So, the computer is forced to be conservative.

    Also keep in mind that the company that made the car is likely to have a whole lot more money to go after than the average driver. If Joe Blow does something wrong in traffic, it is pointless to ask for billions from him in court. But, some juries have no problem awarding millions to billions from superbigco (not that the huge numbers tend to stand up, but the numbers in general can still be bigger that with individuals).

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by tonyPick on Friday November 10 2017, @06:13AM

    by tonyPick (1237) on Friday November 10 2017, @06:13AM (#595050) Homepage Journal

    The problem is, that is based on a "reasonable man" standard, and a computer by definition cannot make such an evaluation.

    If it can't make that evaluation then you don't have a self driving car - just driver assist, and it shouldn't be on the road without a human driver in charge to make those decisions.