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posted by takyon on Thursday March 22 2018, @12:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the carmagedon dept.

A few Soylentils wrote in to tell us about a fatal accident between a pedestrian and an autonomous Uber vehicle.

Update - Video Released of Fatal Uber - Pedestrian Accident

I debated just replying to the original story, but this seemed a pretty significant update to me:

The Uber vehicle was operating in autonomous mode when it crashed into 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg on Sunday evening. Herzberg was transported to a hospital, where she later died from her injuries, in what may be the first known pedestrian fatality in a self-driving crash.

The video footage does not conclusively show who is at fault. Tempe police initially reported that Herzberg appeared suddenly; however, the video footage seems to show her coming into view a number of seconds before the crash. It also showed the vehicle operator behind the wheel intermittently looking down while the car was driving itself.

The link shows video of the seconds just before the accident.

The pedestrian did not step out in front of the vehicle, she was essentially out in the middle of the road, and all her lateral movement was nearly irrelevant. She might as well have been a stationary object in the middle of the road. You can see the headlights bring her feet into view first, (meaning she was pretty much in the line before the headlights could see her, and then move up her body; she's already in the middle of the road in front of him when she comes into view.

If I were driving that car, I think I'd have had time to hit brakes (but not stop in time). I also think that that if the camera view is an accurate representation of what was really visible, then the car was overdriving its headlights. Although given my experience with cameras, I wouldn't be surprised if actual visibility was better than what the video shows.

This, in my opinion, is pretty damning.

Police Chief: Uber Self-Driving Car "Likely" Not At Fault In Fatal Crash

The chief of the Tempe Police has told the San Francisco Chronicle that Uber is likely not responsible for the Sunday evening crash that killed 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg. “I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident," said chief Sylvia Moir.

Herzberg was "pushing a bicycle laden with plastic shopping bags," according to the Chronicle's Carolyn Said, when she "abruptly walked from a center median into a lane of traffic."

After viewing video captured by the Uber vehicle, Moir concluded that “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 added that "it is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available."

Self-Driving Car Testing Likely to Continue Unobstructed

Self-Driving Cars Keep Rolling Despite Uber Crash

The death of a woman who was struck by a self-driving Uber in Arizona on Sunday has auto-safety advocates demanding that U.S. regulators and lawmakers slow down the rush to bring autonomous vehicles to the nation's roadways. Don't count on it.

Efforts to streamline regulations to accommodate the emerging technology have been under way since the Obama administration with strong bipartisan support. And the Trump administration's aversion to restrictions and regulations makes it even more unlikely that the accident in Tempe, Arizona, in which an autonomous Uber sport utility vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian, will result in significant new barriers, according to former U.S. officials and some safety advocates.

"Honestly, the last thing under this administration that car companies and self-driving vehicle developers have to worry about is heavy regulation," said David Friedman, a former National Highway Traffic Safety Administration administrator under President Barack Obama who's now director of cars and product policy for Consumers Union.

Who is to blame when driverless cars have an accident?

[Partial] or full autonomy raises the question of who is to blame in the case of an accident involving a self-driving car? In conventional (human-driven) cars, the answer is simple: the driver is responsible because they are in control. When it comes to autonomous vehicles, it isn't so clear cut. We propose a blockchain-based framework that uses sensor data to ascertain liability in accidents involving self-driving cars.


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2Original Submission #3Original Submission #4

 
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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by theluggage on Thursday March 22 2018, @02:14PM (4 children)

    by theluggage (1797) on Thursday March 22 2018, @02:14PM (#656596)

    If I were driving that car, I think I'd have had time to hit brakes (but not stop in time). I also think that that if the camera view is an accurate representation of what was really visible, then the car was overdriving its headlights. Although given my experience with cameras, I wouldn't be surprised if actual visibility was better than what the video shows.

    This.

    Yeah, I'm not going to claim that I'd have avoided the crash myself - but what's shocking is that the car seems to have just ploughed on regardless despite having a couple of seconds to at least start to react. I'm sure I'd have been standing on the brakes and/or trying to swerve around the pedestrian (the left-hand lane looks clear...). It also shows precisely how much use a "safety" human driver will be.

    And, yes, either the video is deceptively dark (there seems to be a pool of inky blackness ahead in defiance of the street lights...) or the car was going too fast for the visibility. Again, not saying I wouldn't have done the same (although I do tend to instinctively slow down when I can't see ahead...) - spots of poor lighting in urban situations where you can't use main beams are a pain - but so much for self-driving cars being so much safer than fallible human drivers.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:00PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @05:00PM (#656691)

    Exactly. We're told that a human needs x seconds to react to threats whereas a microprocessor operates at GHz, i.e. billion ticks per second. Turns out it's meaningless marketing BS. Who would've thunk.

    But robo cars are the destiny of the mankind and must never be questioned. Too-big-to-fail, once again...

    • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 23 2018, @02:27AM (1 child)

      by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday March 23 2018, @02:27AM (#656988) Journal

      Turns out it's meaningless marketing BS.

      There are many other companies working on driverless cars. Why should we expect technical superiority and solid management from Uber?

      The driver inside of the car was supposed to be paying attention to the road too, but that didn't happen.

      --
      [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 23 2018, @06:03AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 23 2018, @06:03AM (#657035)

        The only thing we should expect is somebody going to prison for a long stint and a few million dollars handed out to the victim.

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Friday March 23 2018, @02:25AM

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Friday March 23 2018, @02:25AM (#656986) Journal

    but so much for self-driving cars being so much safer than fallible human drivers.

    I wouldn't judge the field based solely on Uber's mistake.

    This is Uber we're talking about. They fucked up many things in recent years, had/have a garbage corporate culture, and lost billions in market value. They could have been under pressure to show results.

    --
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