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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: 4, Insightful) by Gaaark on Saturday June 23 2018, @09:45PM (2 children)
AND, i don't want a car i have to watch over that i am not in constant control of: it IS too easy to get distracted.
"Ooooh....gorgeous woman!"WHAM!
If it CANNOT control itself in EVERY situation and i may be held responsible for any bad outcomes it may acquire because it suddenly relents control to me then i don't want it.
If i'm gonna kill someone (through the car being 'at fault') and be held responsible, I WANT FULL CONTROL. Otherwise, i want exemption from prosecution.
This "if the car cannot figure out a problem and hands control to the driver" stuff is nonsense: the human will either be ready (and is probably almost driving it himself) or he will be distracted and will not be able to assume control fast enough.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooope, not for me.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 3, Insightful) by maxwell demon on Sunday June 24 2018, @09:39AM (1 child)
Maybe that's the thing Uber did wrong: They should not have had the driver just sitting there in case something gets wrong, but they should have tasked him with constantly making comments about the behaviour of the car and the current traffic situation, to be recorded alongside the car data. Even if the comments are not too useful by themselves (but who knows if they wouldn't uncover something interesting, too?), it would ensure that the driver is focused on the behaviour of the car, and thus aware of any faults it does.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 24 2018, @02:16PM
Excellent idea. Reminds me of high school Driver's Education (early 1970s). One of the exercises we did in the car was "commentary driving" where the student driver was instructed to comment outloud about everything (possible threats) they noticed: car approaching from rear left, about to pass | light ahead turned green | Check right mirror, glance into right blind spot, nothing close on the right at this time, could move right if the passing car comes too close | ...
I don't think the instructor called it stream of consciousness, but that was essentially what we did.