According to this article on MSN:
Police in Tempe, Arizona said evidence showed the "safety" driver behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber was distracted and streaming a television show on her phone right up until about the time of a fatal accident in March, deeming the crash that rocked the nascent industry "entirely avoidable."
A 318-page report from the Tempe Police Department, released late on Thursday in response to a public records request, said the driver, Rafaela Vasquez, repeatedly looked down and not at the road, glancing up just a half second before the car hit 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, who was crossing the street at night.
According to the report, Vasquez could face charges of vehicle manslaughter. Police said that, based on testing, the crash was "deemed entirely avoidable" if Vasquez had been paying attention.
Police obtained records from Hulu, an online service for streaming television shows and movies, which showed Vasquez's account was playing the television talent show "The Voice" the night of the crash for about 42 minutes, ending at 9:59 p.m., which "coincides with the approximate time of the collision," the report says.
It is not clear if Vasquez will be charged, and police submitted their findings to county prosecutors, who will make the determination.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @05:33PM (2 children)
Why would the person who is in effect a passenger, be liable for watching TV? The car was supposed to take care of itself.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @07:11PM
The Tesla-semitrailer crash in NY had a similar element.
Joshua Brown, driving in a rural setting where there was little traffic, set the system for 74 MPH [google.com] and settled in to watch Harry Potter, [google.com] ignoring repeated warnings [google.com] from the system to put his goddamned hands on the steering wheel.
Darwin Award.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 23 2018, @11:55PM
Because the car was known to not yet be reliable enough to take care of itself. The person was not a passenger. It was literally her job to be ready to jump in and take control when -- not if -- the car encountered a situation where it did not respond correctly.
Being in that situation would be mind-numbing, I have no doubt, especially if the autonomous software was approaching "pretty good most of the time" stage. Something to keep entertained, like audiobooks, might have been a good way to wile away the hours. Something that takes both eyes and ears off the road, like watching TV, is about the stupidest thing a safety driver could do short of taking a nap.